EmailAccording to the Department of Commerce, retail sales were virtually unchanged in August and were up 0.1%, excluding autos. The Briefing.com consensus estimates called for increases of 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. In addition, retail sales in July were indicated to be up 0.3% versus the prior report that showed an increase of 0.5%.
The breakdown for August was somewhat mixed, but not a total disaster as some had thought given the weak employment report for August and the plunge in consumer confidence associated with the debt ceiling negotiations. On that score, the market could ultimately find reason to be encouraged by this report.
Weakness was seen in a number of discretionary spending areas, led by a 2.2% decline in miscellaneous store retailers and a 0.7% drop in sales at clothing and clothing accessories stores. Conversely, there was some surprising strength at electronics and appliance stores (+0.5%), as well as at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores (+2.4%).
Gasoline station sales were up a modest 0.3%.
