Retail sales were unchanged in July, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau…(Census Bureau)
- M-O-M: Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales were unchanged in July at $682.8 billion.
- Y-O-Y: Retail sales were 10.3% higher than the same time one year ago.
Americans apparently went back online looking for deals as nonstore retailers saw a 2.7% increase from June followed by home improvement stores and miscellaneous stores both up 1.5% for the month.
- Gas stations took the biggest hit in July with a 1.8% drop for the month followed by car part shops (-1.8%) and general stores (-0.7%).
Despite their slight decline for the month, gas stations are seeing the biggest jump year-over-year with a 40% increase from July 2021 followed by online retailers (+20.2%) and miscellaneous stores (+17.8%).
- Only two categories were underwater year-over-year: electronic stores (-9.9%) and department stores (-1.4%).
NOTE: Restaurants were up slightly for the month (+0.1%) and are still up double-digits from one year ago (+11.6%).
While it is hard to argue flat retail sales are good, this was the first time since February that retail sales didn’t fall adjusted for inflation. It should also be noted that Goldman Sachs adjusted their Q3 GDP data upward after this report. “Following this morning’s data, which included strong retail sales, we boosted our Q3 GDP tracking estimate by 0.4pp to +1.3%”