Retail Sales rose 0.1% in August, above the 0.2% decline the market was expecting. Sales in July were also revised higher to 1.1%, which may have been due in part to Amazon Prime Day, where we saw $14.2 billion in sales. The Core reading, which gets plugged into GDP, rose 0.3% while July’s reading was also revised higher by a tenth to 0.4%.
What’s the bottom line? Overall, the sales figures for August show that consumer spending remains resilient even as hiring has shown signs of slowing. Plus, the better-than-expected Core reading may lead to stronger GDP estimates down the line.