US retail sales drop 0.32% in Sept, clothing sales up by 1.06% MoM

Online and other non-store sales were up 1.59 per cent month over month seasonally adjusted and up by 15.21 per cent year over year unadjusted in September. Total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline are up by 0.55 per cent unadjusted year over year in September. That compared with increases of 0.45 per cent month over month and 2.11 per cent year over year in August, according to the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC)/NRF Retail Monitor.

“After seven consecutive months of gains, consumers pulled back a bit in September, which is historically a soft month for retail sales. Due to geopolitical tensions, uncertainty regarding election outcomes, anticipation of the port strike and lingering inflation in services, shoppers showed caution. However, year-over-year gains showed consumers were still spending on household priorities,” said NRF president and chief executive officer (CEO) Matthew Shay.

The Retail Monitor calculation of core retail sales (excluding restaurants in addition to automobiles dealers and gasoline stations) was down 0.28 per cent month over month in September but up 0.94 per cent year over year. That compared with increases of 0.17 per cent month over month and 1.93 per cent year over year in August.

The month over month decline was the first since January for both total and core sales and only the second since the Retail Monitor began tracking sales in October 2022. Total sales were up 1.91 per cent year over year for the first nine months of 2024 and core sales were up 2.18 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)