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Americans stepped up their spending at retailers last month in the latest sign that healthy consumer spending is driving the economy’s steady growth.
Retail sales rose 0.4% from September to October, the Commerce Department said Friday, a solid increase though less than the previous month’s robust 0.8% gain.
A 1.6% jump in sales at auto dealers drove much of the gain. Purchases climbed 2.3% at electronics and appliances stores and 0.7% at restaurants and bars. Though some of October’s rise in retail sales reflected higher prices, it mainly indicated increased purchases.
Friday’s report arrives as retailers are poised to enter the critically important holiday shopping season in less than two weeks. Analysts envision a solid holiday shopping season, though perhaps not as robust as last year’s, with many shoppers under pressure from overall still-high prices despite the easing of inflation.
The latest retail sales figures suggest that the economy is growing briskly again in the current October-December quarter, after having expanded at a sturdy 2.8% annual rate in the previous quarter. Since peaking at 9.1% more than two years ago, inflation has sunk to 2.6%, not far above prepandemic levels. And Americans’ take-home pay, on average, has surpassed inflation for about 18 months.
Still, the post-pandemic inflation spike has left prices about 20% higher than they were three years ago and dimmed Americans’ outlook on the economy.
