Retail Sales Up 0.4% in September, Better Than Expected

The Census Bureau's Advance Retail Sales Report for September revealed headline sales were up 0.4% last month. The latest reading was higher than the expected 0.3% monthly growth in consumer spending.

For an inflation-adjusted perspective on retail sales, take a look at our Real Retail Sales commentary.

Retail Sales Month Over Month

Here is the introduction from today's report:

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for September 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $714.4 billion, an increase of 0.4 percent (±0.5 percent)* from the previous month, and up 1.7 percent (±0.5 percent) from September 2023. Total sales for the July 2024 through September 2024 period were up 2.3 percent (±0.5 percent) from the same period a year ago. The July 2024 to August 2024 percent change was unrevised from up 0.1 percent (±0.2 percent)*.

Retail trade sales were up 0.3 percent (±0.5 percent)* from August 2024, and up 1.4 percent (±0.5 percent) from last year. Nonstore retailers were up 7.1 percent (±1.4 percent) from last year, while food services and drinking places were up 3.7 percent (±2.1 percent) from September 2023.