Recession Not Yet: Retail Sales Help Push Up Atlanta Fed GDPNow To +3.0% For Q3 GDP

Summary

• Retail sales rose 0.1% in August from July, seasonally adjusted, on top of the upwardly revised 1.1% jump in July, and the 0.3% dip in June.
• What is remarkable is that retail sales continue to rise even as prices of many goods that retailers sell, have been dropping all year, particularly durable goods and gasoline.
• The CPI for durable goods has dropped by 6.1% from the peak two years ago.

Retail sales rose 0.1% in August from July, seasonally adjusted, on top of the upwardly revised 1.1% jump in July, and the 0.3% dip in June. Not seasonally adjusted, retail sales jumped by 1.5% in August from July to $737 billion.