They Said This Wouldn’t Happen: Trump Racks Up Another Econ Win as Retail Spending Surges
The summary of the article is as follows:
Retail sales in July showed a strong increase,surprising many economic experts who had predicted a decline due to waning consumer confidence. Despite concerns that pessimism about the economy might reduce spending on big-ticket items like cars and houses, consumers continued to spend, notably on discretionary items. Data from the CNBC / National Retail Federation Retail Monitor indicated that core retail sales rose 6 percent year-over-year,with overall sales for the first seven months up by 4.83 percent.
The increase in spending was attributed to triumphant summer sales and consumers accelerating purchases ahead of expected tariffs. Leisure-related spending, including sporting goods, hobbies, music, and book stores, saw notable gains. Wages also increased by 2.3 percent in July, outpacing inflation and giving consumers more purchasing power. The Consumer Price Index rose by 2.7 percent in July, slightly below expectations, suggesting that inflation is stabilizing.
these trends suggest that the U.S. economy may be improving, with consumers maintaining the ability and willingness to spend despite earlier fears of a downturn.
Retail sales rose in July, leaving cracked crystal balls strewn across pundit-land.
“The pullback in confidence is becoming a real threat to consumer spending,” Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, predicted in March, according to Reuters.
“People who are afraid the economy is headed into a ditch won’t buy new cars or houses, go out to eat or go on vacations,” he said.
Democrats said, consumers were “cutting back on discretionary spending.”
Someone should have told the American people.
The CNBC / National Retail Federation Retail Monitor announced this week that core retail sales, which exclude restaurant, car, and gas purchases, are up 6 percent year over year, according to the Washington Times.
Sales rose 4.83 percent year over year for the first seven months, the report said.
“Consumer spending increased in July, driven by successful summer sales events held by many retailers and shoppers continuing to pull purchases forward ahead of tariffs,” National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay said.
“We may be seeing growing inflationary impacts from tariffs since recent data shows price increases in commodity goods, particularly non-durables.
“Even with weaker job growth than many expected, consumers still have the ability to spend on household priorities as wages are growing above the rate of inflation,” he said.
The survey found that leisure time spending was the highest category of increase.
The category of “sporting goods, hobby, music and book stores” showed a sales increase of 2.36 percent month over month and are up 9.99 percent year over year.
That trend was noted by Roll Call, which said recent economic reports are “a good sign that the economy may be heading in the right direction.”
The Consumer Price Index was at 2.7 percent in July, just under predictions it would hit 2.8 percent.
Since January, prices have increased 1.7 percent.
From January to June, weekly wages had risen 1.7 percent, .2 percent above the CPI, but in July, wages spiked.
Weekly wages in July showed a 2.3 percent increase, which means, as Roll Call reported, “wages have outpaced prices by 0.6 percent.”
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