Retail spending, which is adjusted for seasonality but not inflation, rose 0.2% in June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That was a slower pace than last month’s revised 0.5% increase and below economists’ expectations of a 0.5% gain, according to Refinitiv. Furniture sales jumped 1.4% in June from the prior month, while spending at department stores fell by 2.4% during the same period. Excluding sales at gasoline stations and on cars and parts, retail sales rose 0.3% in June from May.
The figures add to signs that US consumers are still opening up their wallets amid higher interest rates, stubborn inflation and lingering economic uncertainty, though the report mostly showed that retail spending only inched forward. Whether or not that momentum persists beyond the summer remains to be seen. “Consumers’ spending is suffering from the depletion of excess savings built up during Covid,” wrote Ian Shepherdson and Kieran Clancy of Pantheon Macroeconomics in an analyst note.