Total retail sales improved 0.1% (4.7% y/y) during September following an unrevised 0.1% August gain. A 0.6% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales eased 0.1% last month (+5.7% y/y) after a 0.2% rise, revised from 0.3%. A 0.4% increase had been expected. A measure of the underlying pace of retail spending is nonauto sales growth excluding gasoline and building materials. These sales increased 0.5% in September (4.9% y/y) after little change during the prior month.

Weakness in sales last month was most pronounced at restaurant & drinking establishments where purchases weakened 1.8% (+7.2% y/y) after a 0.3% gain.

Elsewhere, patterns amongst sales categories were mixed. Purchases at nonstore retailers strengthened 1.1% (11.4% y/y) after a 0.5% gain. Sales of furniture & home furnishings stores also improved 1.1% (4.3% y/y) and offset a 0.8% decline in the prior month. Electronics & appliance store sales increased 0.9% (5.8% y/y) after a 0.6% rise. Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores sales rose 0.7% (-3.8% y/y) after five consecutive months of decline.

Posting lesser increases were apparel & accessory store sales which rose 0.5% (4.6% y/y) after a 2.8% decline. General merchandise store sales gained 0.3% (3.6% y/y) following a 0.1% uptick. Building materials & garden equipment store sales inched 0.1% higher (1.5% y/y) after a 0.8% increase. Moving lower by 0.8% (+11.4% y/y) were gasoline service station sales following a 1.1% rise.

Sales of nondiscretionary items were mixed last month. Food & beverages store sales gained 0.2% (2.9% y/y) after a 0.3% decline. Health & personal care product store sales declined 0.3% (+4.1% y/y) after a 0.5% rise.

The retail sales data can be found in Haver's USECON database. The Action Economics forecast is in the AS1REPNA database.