Last week the U.S. Census Bureau released preliminary estimates of nationwide retail sales in August 2022 and revised estimates for July 2022. (The data include both brick-and-mortar and Internet sales.)
Retail Sales Grew... Seasonally adjusted U.S. retail sales grew 0.3 percent from July to August.
…Roughly Offsetting Prior Drop. The revised estimates indicate that seasonally adjusted U.S. retail sales declined by 0.4 percent from June to July. (Last month’s preliminary estimates had suggested that retail sales remained unchanged in July.) Cumulative twelve-month growth in sales from August 2021 to August 2022 was 9.1 percent.
Inflation-Adjusted Retail Sales Grew Modestly Over Past Year. Across all goods and services purchased by consumers, U.S. prices grew 0.1 percent from July to August. From August 2021 to August 2022, prices grew 8.3 percent, somewhat less than the 9.1 percent growth in nominal sales over that twelve-month period.
