by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Our Drunken Sailors are in No Mood to slow down. Massive waves of migrants also boost retail sales.
Our Drunken Sailors, as we lovingly and facetiously have been calling them for over a year, the pillars of the US economy, are still at it, splurging at retailers. Retail sales jumped by 1.0% in July from June, seasonally adjusted, the biggest month-to-month increase since January 2023. Year-over-year, not seasonally adjusted, retail sales rose 4.0%, to $724 billion.
To see the trend beyond the month-to-month squiggles, we look at the three-month average, which includes all revisions. It rose by 0.3% in July from June, and was up 2.4% year-over-year.