Hurricanes, Election Can’t Slow Down U.S. Consumers | Global News Avenue

Retail sales data for October showed that even storms and election uncertainty could not slow consumer spending.

U.S. retail sales not only increased by 0.4% month-on-month, September data Friday’s Census Bureau report showed the company’s sales were revised up 0.8%. Economists surveyed wall street journal and Dow Jones Newswires Growth in October is expected to be a more modest 0.3%.

Consumer and business sentiment tend to be subdued before elections; latest No exception. However, the data shows that any concerns consumers may have did not reduce spending in September or October. September’s revision came after consumer confidence showed its Biggest drop in three years.

“October retail sales were slightly higher than economists expected, but it was the revision in September that really stood out,” said Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at eToro. “This reflects the U.S. Consumer resilience despite some economic data casting doubt on the economy.”

Hurricanes change spending trends, but not slow them down

Sales of electronics and appliances increased 2.3% for the month, while motor vehicle sales increased 1.6%. Sales of sporting goods, furniture, personal care and apparel fell in October, which may have been impact of storm That Attacks on parts of the country economists said last month.

Michael Pierce, deputy chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said: “The impact of Hurricanes Helen and Milton is likely to affect retail sales patterns, boosting auto and building materials sales but dampening spending at a range of other institutions.”

Holiday spending could be slowest in five years

While sales reports show some momentum Entering the holiday seasoneconomists don’t necessarily expect blowout performance from retailers.

Economists at Wells Fargo said the October report showed sales growth for the holiday season met expectations of 3.3%, the slowest pace in five years.

“Based on reported data for the first 10 months of the year, we know consumers are in a fairly average position heading into this year’s holiday season,” Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan, Shannon Seery Grein and Jeremiah Kohl wrote. “We expect the current The situation will set up a good holiday sales season for retailers, but we are still likely to see the slowest annual sales growth since before the pandemic, and we remain cautious about the outlook for spending in the new year.”