Consumer spending remained strong in August as U.S. retail sales beat expectations, lending more credibility to the Federal Reserve’s pending reduction in interest rates.
Retail sales shows a minor increase of 0.1% in August, largely due to a rise in online sales, according to Tuesday’s data from the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau.
But the slight rise comes against a prediction of a 0.2% decrease, per data from Bloomberg News — a surprising surge before the Federal Reserve’s anticipated cut in interest rates.
August retail sales, excluding automobiles and gas, rose 0.2%, just shy of estimates of a 0.3% jump. The data also revealed a positive revision of the previous month’s retail sales data, which came in at 1.1%.
The news is unlikely to impact the Fed’s decision to lower its benchmark rate on Wednesday, when the central bank likely will make a 0.25% or 0.50% cut.
