US August retail sales rise 1.2%, biggest gain in 5 months; ex-autos up 1.4%, control group up 1.4%

US retail sales rose 1.2% m/m in August, above the 0.8% expected and the biggest increase in five months, after a prior 0.6% decline (revised to -0.5%). Ex-autos sales rose 1.4% (vs 0.6% expected; prior -0.3%, revised -0.2%), ex-autos-and-gas rose 1.2% (vs 0.4% expected) and the control group rose 1.4% (vs 0.5% expected). The advance was broad: only building materials fell among 13 categories, gas stations led at +3.1%, restaurant and bar sales rose 1.2% for a seventh straight monthly gain, and e-commerce sales rose 2.6%, the best since February 2025. The same release showed August import prices up 0.7% m/m and 7.0% y/y, both above forecasts, with petroleum import prices up 27.3% y/y, indicating consumer spending and imported inflation are running ahead of expectations.

Detected & updated continuously · Source: Nebula