October Was a Strong Month for Retail Sales

Today’s retail sales report showed that October sales rose by 0.8%. That was 0.2% more than expectations. The number for September was revised up to 1%. Over the last year, retail sales are up 4.3%.

“A strong October following a strong September is encouraging,” Tom Simons, a senior economist at Jefferies LLC, said before the report. “The labor market continues to be strong, and wage growth appears to be accelerating.”

Sales improved in 11 of 13 major categories for a second straight month in October, the report showed. That included the biggest advance in five months at Internet retailers and the strongest month for apparel chains since February.

Furniture outlets and restaurants were the only major categories registering a decline in October sales.

Auto purchases remained robust, climbing 1.1 percent after a 1.9 percent increase.

That’s consistent with industry data that showed the torrid demand is continuing. Purchases of cars and light trucks grew at a 17.9 million annualized rate, the strongest pace since November of last year, after 17.7 million the previous month, according to Ward’s Automotive Group.

We’ll get an earnings from Ross Stores (ROST) on Thursday.

Posted by on November 15th, 2016 at 9:19 am


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