United States: Retail sales growth picks up pace in September
Latest reading: Retail sales expanded 0.4% in month-on-month seasonally adjusted terms in September, which was above August’s 0.1% increase and beat market expectations. Looking at the details of the release, September’s pickup was broad-based, with the motor vehicle and parts dealers, food and beverages, and general merchandise stores sub-sectors all gaining steam.
On an annual basis, retail sales rose 1.7% in September, which was below August’s 2.2% expansion and marked the worst result since January.
Coupled with expansions in retail sales in July and August, the September data suggests a strong private spending outturn in Q3 as a whole, as our panelists predict.
Panelist insight: TD Economics’ Shernette McLeod said:
“The U.S. consumer continues to display notable resilience, despite the headwinds that have blown their way. Monthly sales rose at a relatively fast pace adding to previous gains earlier in the quarter. Sales in the key control group were also notable, remaining in positive territory for the fifth consecutive month. All said, with today’s numbers, growth in sales for the third quarter was strong at 5.3% annualized – notably above the 1.8% annualized gain recorded in Q2 and significantly higher than the decline in Q1 (-0.8%).”