Reasonable Retail

While September M-o-M retail sales jumped a more than expected 0.7% and August sales were revised up from 0.6% to 0.8%, there is less here than meets the eye. After inflation, August sales were up 0.16% M-o-M and September was up 0.32%. Y-o-Y real retail September sales rose 0.06%, the first positive reading since January’s 1% rise. Retail sales have been dead flat at $230 billion/month for 30 months.