Key facts
- US retail sales increased 0.8% in September, beating expectations.
- Higher gasoline prices drove the September retail sales increase.
- Core retail sales, a measure of consumer spending for GDP, rose 0.1%.
US retail sales increased by 0.8% in September, surpassing economists' forecasts of a 0.3% rise, according to data from the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. This gain was primarily driven by a 7.1% surge in gasoline prices. However, spending on other goods saw a more moderate increase of 0.1% when excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials, and food services. Economists anticipate that consumer spending growth will slow to an annualized rate of around 3.4% in the third quarter, down from 3.8% in the second quarter. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book indicated little change in overall consumer spending across most districts, with some reports noting caution among lower-income households.