United States: Consumer Wallets Remain Open

Summary of the publication

Retail sales stalled (0.0%) in July after increasing 0.8% in June and 0.4% in May.

Motor vehicle sales fell 1.6%. Gas station receipts dropped 1.8%. Excluding motor vehicles and gasoline, sales rose 0.7% in both June and July.

Both nonstore retailers and renovation centres posted solid gains for the month, surging 2.7% and 1.5% respectively.

Besides motor vehicles and gasoline, the next biggest drags on growth came from clothing stores (-0.6%) and general merchandise stores (-0.5%).