US retail sales soar in September

The pace of US retail sales growth accelerated slightly more than expected in September, indicating a rebound in consumer spending by American households, data released by the US Census Bureau today, Oct. 17, showed.

US retail sales increased by 0.4% on a monthly basis to $714.4 billion in September, after adding 0.1% in August. This is against expectations for a 0.3% month-on-month (MoM) hike.

On an annual basis, September sales were 1.7% higher than the same month last year.

Core retail sales, which exclude food service sales, climbed by 0.5% MoM in September, versus an upwardly-revised 0.2% uptick in August.

Non-store retail sales also leapt by 7.1% on a yearly basis last month, with food and beverage (F&B) service sales also up by 3.7%.