ARLINGTON, Va.—While the data indicate retail sales saw no change in September following an increase of 0.4% in August, that’s not the whole picture, says one economist.
“Retail sales were flat in September. The series is not adjusted for inflation, so spending declined in real terms,” explained NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long. “Sales declines were broad during the month, hitting many sectors. However, the areas of the economy that are particularly hampered right now were among the biggest losers: sales at auto dealers fell 0.6% and home furnishings fell 0.7%.”
Sectoral performance was mixed in September. General merchandise stores saw the biggest increase with 0.7% growth in sales, growth last month was equally offset by declines. Miscellaneous store retailers, however, saw the biggest decline (-2.5%), according to the NAFCU analysis of the federal data.
Year-over-year growth in retail sales were up 8.2% in September. Control group sales – which excludes auto gas, and building material categories – were up 7.7% from a year ago.
“Gas station sales dropped again on the month, but that may reverse course in October as gas prices have risen for three consecutive weeks,” noted Long. “As the price of oil has declined, so too have sales at gas stations.
‘Slowing Consumption Overall’
“Retail sales data primarily capture spending in the goods sector and may miss the effect of consumers rotating back to services,” continued Long. “The decline in retail sales suggests slowing consumption overall, but it is also impacted by consumers’ turn from goods, which is captured in retail sales), back to services, which is largely not…NAFCU continues to expect a 75-point increase from the Fed in November.”
The Very Best in CU Reporting. Every Morning. To Your Inbox. At a Total Cost of ‘Free!’
Don’t forget to check your Spam/Junk email folder if you haven’t been receiving your free, popular and daily CUToday.info news headlines.
And if you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time.
CUToday.info has received very positive response from readers following the move to an improved provider of the daily headlines, but many also noted they did need to go to their Spam/Junk folder and mark it as safe.
The new email solution has not only improved every reader’s delivery experience, but it also features a fresh, new format that is easy to read, especially on mobile devices.
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com.