U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% last month after falling 0.4% in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Excluding business at gas stations, sales rose 0.8%, the Associated Press reported. The sales figures for August were largely boosted by higher spending on vehicles. Sales of purchases at motor vehicles and parts dealers rose 2.8% last month. Excluding vehicle sales, spending slipped 0.3%. Excluding both vehicle and gas spending, retail sales rose 0.3%. While the report showed shoppers’ resilience, the figures also are not adjusted for inflation unlike many other government reports. In fact, sales at grocery stores rose 0.5%, helped by rising prices in food. There was, however, weakening in some areas of discretionary spending with Americans fully aware of inflation’s bite. Business at restaurants ticked up 1.1%, but the pace has slowed. Sales at furniture stores fell 1.3%. Online sales fell 0.7% last month after Amazon’s Prime Day boosted e-commerce sales in July. Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity and Americans have remained mostly resilient even with inflation near four-decade highs. Yet surging prices for everything from mortgages to milk have upped the anxiety level. Overall spending has slowed and shifted increasingly toward necessities like food, while spending on electronics, furniture, new clothes and other non-necessities has faded.
