US September Retail Sales Rise 0.4% Month-on-Month, Exceeding Expectations

Contrary to predictions that U.S. retail sales would decline month-over-month last month, they showed a slight increase.

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on the 17th (local time) that retail sales in September increased by 0.4% from the previous month, totaling 714.4 billion dollars. [Photo by Yonhap News]

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on the 17th (local time) that September retail sales rose 0.4% month-over-month to $714.4 billion.

This figure slightly exceeded the Dow Jones consensus forecast of a 0.3% increase. Although the growth rate slowed compared to August's 2.1% increase,

it was up 1.7% year-over-year, indicating that consumer spending remains robust.

Excluding the large sales volume of automobiles, consumer spending increased by 0.5%, significantly surpassing the expected 0.1%.

The monthly retail sales indicator is a preliminary statistic that mainly tracks merchandise sales performance within total consumption, and is considered a gauge of changes in consumption, a key driver of the U.S. economy.

U.S. retail sales account for two-thirds of the U.S. economy, so this figure suggests that the U.S. economy remains solid.

Wall Street had forecasted a slowdown in private consumption due to the prolonged high interest rates, a deceleration in wage growth, and the depletion of excess household savings.