Retail Sales Suggest US Consumers Spent Some Gas ‘Savings’
Retail sales were unchanged in the US last month, reflecting a weekslong drop in gas prices, data out Wednesday showed.
Consensus expected a small gain. The range of estimates, from more than five-dozen economists, was -0.5% to 0.9%.
Spending at gas stations fell 1.8% from June (green bar in the figure, below), a welcome reprieve after burdensome increases in prior months.
But, in a testament to the notion that incremental relief is no substitute for a return to normalcy, gas station receip
“The numbers weren’t indicative of a consumer inclined to save money at the first opportunity (…) Americans are far from any sort of across-the-board retrenchment”.
The American consumer. Tougher to kill than a horror franchise villain!
H-Man, since retail sales are not adjusted for inflation, and the numbers were basically flat from the previous month, I wonder how much of this was attributable to stuff (which includes food, liquor and beverages) simply costing more?