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Last Update: 14-Aug-12 09:04 ET
Retail Sales Surge Across All Sectors
Retail sales jumped 0.8% in July, ending a string of three straight declines. That easily topped the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 0.2% growth. Excluding motor vehicles, spending also rose 0.8%, which was well above the consensus forecast of a 0.3% gain. The acceleration in spending in July offset negative revisions to June sales growth for both total sales (from -0.5% to -0.7%) and sales excluding autos (from -0.4% to -0.8%). Every retail sector showed positive spending gains in July. In a preliminary look at the data, it does not seem to be influenced by inflationary pressures. That means the pickup in retail sales in July should result in stronger third quarter GDP expectations. Separately, with aggregate wages increasing only 0.2% in July, the spending gain will likely result in a decline in the personal savings rate. Core retail sales -- which exclude the highly volatile motor vehicle dealers, building materials and supply dealers, and gasoline stations – jumped 0.9%.
