Thursday, September 15, 2016

Retail Sales: August 2016

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest nominal read of retail sales showing worsening activity in August with sales falling 0.3% from July but rising 1.9% on a year-over-year basis on an aggregate of all items including food, fuel and healthcare services.

Nominal "discretionary" retail sales including home furnishings, home garden and building materials, consumer electronics and department store sales declined 0.96% from July and fell 0.16% below the level seen in August 2015 while, adjusting for inflation, “real” discretionary retail sales declined 0.96% on the month and fell 1.05% since August 2015.