–Retail Sales Ex-Motor Vehicles Rise Only 0.3%; Clothing Sales Reverse
–Industrial Production Jumps By 1.1% as Utilities Production Rebounds
–Business Inventories Up 0.7% in September, Business Sales Up 0.6%
By Kevin Kastner
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Retail sales rose only modestly in October, a much smaller increase than in previous months, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Total retail sales rose by 0.3%, less than the 0.4% gain expected and following a 1.6% gain in September and a 1.4% rise in August.
Motor vehicle sales rose by 0.4% in October after 2.9% jump in September.
Retail sales excluding motor vehicles were up only 0.2% in October, a much smaller increase than the 0.6% gain expected.
Clothing stores sales fell by 4.2% in October after surging by 13.6% in the previous month while sporting goods sales fell by 4.2% after an 8.0% jump in September. Extended back-to-school sales were the key factors in those September jumps.
Building materials sales rose by 0.9%, still reflecting strong home sales, though furniture store sales fell by 0.4%.
Sales at restaurants and bars declined by 0.1% in October and sales at food and beverage stores fell by 0.2%. Gasoline station sales rose by 0.4% after a 2.0% jump in September.
Providing some offset was the nonstore retailers category, which posted a 3.1% surge in October due to Amazon Prime Days sales.
The closely-watched control group – total sales excluding motor vehicles, gasoline, building materials, and food services – rose by only 0.2% after 1.0% gains in August and September.
Released later Tuesday, industrial production posted a solid rebound in October, led by a bounce back in the utilities sector.
Industrial production rose by 1.1%, compared with the 0.9% increase expected, after a 0.4% decline in September. The index level is still down 5.3% year/year and down 5.6% from the February level before the pandemic.
Utilities production surged by 3.9% after falling by 5.2% in September and 1.7% in August. Electricity production rose by 5.5%, offsetting a 3.5% decline in natural gas production.
Manufacturing production rose by 1.0%, slightly ahead of the 0.9% gain expected. Motor vehicle production fell by 0.1%.
Excluding motor vehicles, overall industrial production would have still been up 1.1%, while manufacturing production would have been up 1.1%.
Mining production fell by 0.6% after rising by 1.2% in September.
Released later in the morning, business inventories rose by 0.7% in September, stronger than expected because retail inventories were revised up to a 1.7% gain from the 1.6% increase in the advance estimate. Wholesale inventories were already reported up 0.4%, while factory inventories were flat
Business sales rose by 0.6% after August’s 0.9% increase. There were gains at all three production levels, particularly the revised 1.5% increase in retail trade sales reported with this morning’s October data.
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Contact this reporter: kevin@macenews.com.
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