Satisfactory Spending

While retail sales jumped 0.6% in July, and May and June were upwardly revised, don’t conclude that consumer spending, 70% of GDP, is necessarily great. Retail sales including food service sales equal $2.4 trillion/year, 20% of consumer spending. Consumer spending also includes $2.0 trillion in healthcare spending, $2.0 trillion in housing and utilities, $300 billion in net output of nonprofits, and still more. Y-o-Y, retail spending’s up a pleasant 3.9%.