Consumer spending continued on a moderate growth track last month. October retail & food service sales increased 0.5% following an unrevised 1.1% September gain. The October increase roughly matched Consensus expectations for a 0.4% rise, according to the Action Economics survey. Three-month growth in sales rose to 8.2% (AR), its highest in six months.

Last month's sales strength was led by a 3.7% surge (3.5% y/y) in electronics, a 1.5% increase (5.6% y/y) in building materials and a 1.5% gain (11.1% y/y) in non-store retailers. Sales at food & beverage stores also posted a strong 1.1% gain (6.3% y/y) while food service & drinking places expenditures increased 0.4% (6.7% y/y) following the 1.2% September jump. Motor vehicles also rose 0.4% (7.0% y/y) in conjunction with the 1.2% gain in unit purchases.

Sales of other discretionary items were soft. Sales at clothing & accessory stores fell 0.7% (+5.8% y/y) while sales of furniture & home furnishings also were off 0.7% (+3.4% y/y). Sales at general merchandise stores slipped marginally (+3.8% y/y). Gasoline service station sales also declined 0.4% (+15.6% y/y). Gas prices slipped 0.3% when seasonally adjusted by Haver. Excluding both autos and gasoline, retail sales increased 0.8% last month (6.0% y/y), roughly double the gains of the prior three months.

The retail sales figure are available in Haver's USECON database. The Action Economics figures are in the AS1REPNA database.