August 15, 2023
Americans are still spending.
Like, more than experts predicted. And the spending is up pretty much across the board – even with all this inflation. That’s according to the new retail sales report from the Commerce Department that showed retail sales have continued to tick up for the last four months straight.
On average — in July retail sales were point-seven percent more than June of 2023 and more than 3.2% higher than they were in July of 2022.
And here’s what’s interesting – prices for these very same things were up 0.2% between June and July 2023 according to the most recent inflation report. But those increases didn’t slow us down. Because this report shows our purchasing – or retail sales — are up 0.7%.
This uptick continues to show this economy is resilient – people keep spending on things like clothing, dining out and online despite high prices and higher interest rates. In July department stores saw a 0.9% increase in sales. Sales at sporting goods stores and hobby stores rose 1.5% percent and restaurant sales rose 1.4% and online sales increased almost 1.9%.
This is another one of those reports that the federal reserve will look at to determine whether to raise interest rates again next month.
Read the retail sales report here.
