Retail sales at recorded a drop of 0.1% last October compared to the previous month, when consumption increased by 0.9%, representing the first decrease in consumption since last March, although the fall was less than expected by consensus from the market.
In this way, American consumption continues to show strength, despite the fact that the interest rate is at a 22-year high, as shown by the decrease of less than the 0.3% expected by the market and in the upward revision of the data. September retail sales rose to 0.9% growth from 0.7% previously estimated.
A total of seven of the 13 categories analyzed recorded sales declines in October, with the biggest falls in the categories of furniture stores (-2%) and miscellaneous (-1.7%), while sales of cars and components fell 1% and those of sporting goods and entertainment bookstores 0.8%.
The Department of Commerce offers retail trade value data adjusted for seasonal variations and differences between holidays and business days, but not for price changes.
At the same time that the Department of Commerce reported the increase in consumption, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor announced that the producer price index (PPI) in the United States registered a monthly decrease of 0.5% in October when compared to the 0.4% increase in the previous month, the largest since April 2020.
These data will add to the slowness of the consumer price index (CPI), which was published on Tuesday and stood at 3.2% year-on-year in October, compared to 3.7% in the previous month. The underlying index closed with an increase of 4%, a tenth lower than in September.
