US Retail Sales Rebound in October
US retail trade rose 0.3 percent from a month earlier in October 2019, reversing a 0.3 percent drop in September and beating market expectations of 0.2 percent.
5 of 13 major retail categories showed month-over-month increases.
Receipts at motor vehicle & parts dealers rose 0.5 percent in October (vs -1.3 percent in September) and those at gasoline stations climbed 1.1 percent (vs -0.1 percent in September) on the back of higher fuel prices. There was also a rebound in sales at food & beverage stores (0.5 percent vs -0.6 percent) and general merchandise stores (0.4 percent vs -0.4 percent), while online and mail-order retail sales increased at a faster pace (0.9 percent vs 0.2 percent).
In contrast, spending at furniture stores fell at the fastest pace since December 2018 (-0.9 percent vs 0.7 percent), and receipts at restaurants and bars dropped by the most in nearly a year (-0.3 percent vs 0.8 percent). Declines were also seen at electronics and appliance stores (-0.4 percent vs 0.1 percent), building material stores (-0.5 percent vs -1.8 percent), clothing stores (-1.0 percent vs 0.3 percent), hobby, musical instrument and book stores (-0.8 percent vs -0.1 percent), and miscellaneous store retailers (-0.6 percent vs -0.2 percent). Sales at health and personal care stores were unchanged, after a 0.6 percent growth in September.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales were 0.3 percent higher last month, recovering from the 0.1 percent decline seen a month earlier.
Year-on-year, retail sales grew 3.1 percent, compared to 4.1 percent in the previous month.