Retail Sales

There wasn’t a lot to celebrate in the September 2019 Retail Sales release from the Census Bureau; however, Atlas will find a way to cheer it on later in this note.  But first we must deal with the negatives.  The headline is a good place to start as the overall statistic dropped 0.3 percent, giving back most of the prior period’s 0.4 percent gain.

In yesterday’s note (click here to review) we examined the Census Bureau’s data on Retail Sales.  In short, they were weak.  The headline tally declined 1.2 percent (the largest drop in nine years), and minus signs accompanied most of the components. 

Americans consume a lot.  So much so that just one economic indicator represents roughly two-thirds of our nation’s output: retail sales.  Unfortunately for the economy, the Census Bureau’s December 2018 iteration of this indicator was weak.  While adjusted for seasonality but not prices, receipts were down 1.2 percent as last year ended.

Retails sales decelerated in August 2018 according to data from the Census Bureau.  Retail receipts grew 0.1 percent in the period after gaining 0.7 percent in July.  And that’s the rub; July’s tally was upwardly revised from an already strong 0.5 percent count in the initial report.  This strength gave August a tough comparison, so even though the month-over-month gr