Benchmark revision shows less worrisome US inflation

Recent increases in US long-term rates surprisingly little impacted by inflation expectations

Even with strong capex, US nonfinancial corporations are generating more cash than they are investing

Investor sentiment worldwide is positive, especially in AI-led Asia

Sectoral shift in US job openings

Meteoric rise in AI-related semiconductor exports fueling South Korea's export boom

Regional Fed surveys showing further manufacturing acceleration in August

Sharp drop in China demand for oil helping to limit impact of Middle East conflict on the price

Decades high real price of copper posing physical challenge to investment boom

Rising US long-term real yields point to strong demand for investment funding

US retail sales accelerate even as consumers remain gloomy

Retail gasoline price still well above pre-conflict level and now rising again

PMIs showing widespread revival of global economy

Crude oil price has returned to pre-conflict level but traffic through Hormuz still subpar

Surging orders for computers and electronics propelling durable goods orders

Next year's inflation forecasts are on the rise and above target

Disrupted global supply chains placing upward pressure on US goods prices

Construction of data centers has overtaken transportation construction in US

Elevated energy prices putting intense upward pressure on input prices around the globe

US is big leader in global surge in private AI investment

Larger-than-usual income tax refunds this year are supporting consumer spending

Sharply rising share of AI-related jobs

Inflationary impact of surge in oil prices larger in Europe than in the US

Futures market thinks the price of oil will recede significantly over the next six months

Recent pickup in US defense orders could help support overall growth ahead

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Winnie Tapasanun

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Industrial production (IP) rose a more-than-expected 0.7% m/m in September after increases of 0.1% in August (0.0% initially) and 0.2% in July (unrevised), data from the Federal Reserve Board showed, indicating industrial activity remained on an upward trend. A 0.4% m/m September increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The latest reading marked the sixth straight m/m rise and the seventh in eight months. The year-on-year growth rate accelerated to 2.2% in September, the highest since January, from 1.4% in August (1.6% in September 2025). The September IP index at 104.0 was 4.7% above a low of 99.3 in November 2024 and 4.8% above a low of 99.2 in January 2024. On a quarterly basis, IP rose 0.7% q/q in Q3 ’26 (1.7% y/y), the sixth quarterly rise in seven quarters, after a 1.2% gain in Q2 ’26 (1.5% y/y), with the annualized growth rate moderating to 2.8% in Q3 from 4.8% in Q2.

By **industry groups**, manufacturing production grew 0.3% (1.1% y/y) in September, the seventh m/m increase in eight months, after a 0.2% decline in August (-0.3% initially) and a 0.1% uptick in July (+0.2% previously). Durable goods production edged up 0.1% (3.7% y/y) in September, the eighth m/m gain in nine months, following a 0.5% slide in August. Within durables, most categories rose m/m in September, led by a 1.6% rebound (1.3% y/y) in primary metals, followed by rises of 1.4% (6.9% y/y) in machinery, 1.3% (5.4% y/y) in electrical equipment, appliances & components, 0.9% (2.2% y/y) in nonmetallic mineral products, 0.6% (3.3% y/y) in fabricated metal products, 0.5% (4.4% y/y) in aerospace & miscellaneous transportation equipment, 0.1% (9.5% y/y) in computer & electronic products, and 0.1% (2.1% y/y) in miscellaneous durable goods. To the downside, durable goods categories for motor vehicles & parts (-3.0%; -0.8% y/y), furniture & related products (-1.2%; -4.1% y/y), and wood products (-0.1%; +1.5% y/y) posted m/m output decreases in September. Notably, aircraft & parts production fell 0.5% (+5.9% y/y) after a 1.3% August decline and six consecutive m/m increases.

Nondurable goods production rose 0.4% (-1.1% y/y) in September following no change in August and a 0.4% decline in July. The September output rise was led by a 1.9% recovery (-2.2% y/y) in printing & related support activities, followed by gains of 1.0% (-1.3% y/y) in chemicals, 0.7% (0.9% y/y) in petroleum & coal products, 0.4% (-1.5% y/y) in food, beverages & tobacco, and 0.1% (4.3% y/y) in apparel & leather goods. In contrast, nondurable goods categories for paper (-1.1%; -3.2% y/y), plastics & rubber products (-0.9%; +0.7% y/y), and textiles & product mills (-0.6%; 0.0% y/y) registered m/m output declines in September.

Utilities output advanced 3.5% (8.7% y/y) in September, the fifth m/m rise in six months, after a downwardly revised 1.5% increase in August (+1.8% initially), reflecting a 3.7% jump (9.6% y/y) in electric utilities output and a 2.1% rebound (3.1% y/y) in natural gas utilities output. Mining activity moved up 0.2% (2.8% y/y), the sixth straight m/m gain and the seventh in eight months, on top of an upwardly revised 0.5% August rise (+0.1% initially).

By **market groups**, construction supplies production rebounded 1.0% (1.6% y/y) in September, the fourth m/m rise in five months, following a 0.7% decrease in August. Materials production climbed 0.7% (2.6% y/y), the sixth successive m/m increase and the seventh in eight months, after a 0.3% August rise. Consumer goods output rose 0.7% (-0.1% y/y) after no change in August and July, reflecting a 1.5% decline (-2.8% y/y) in durable consumer goods and a 1.2% gain (0.7% y/y) in nondurable consumer goods. Meanwhile, business equipment output was virtually unchanged m/m (+6.7% y/y) after a 0.1% August easing and eight straight m/m increases.

In **special classifications**, factory output of selected high-tech industries advanced 1.5% (17.5% y/y) in September, the sixth consecutive m/m rise and the 11th in 12 months, adding to a 1.1% gain in August. Manufacturing production excluding selected high-tech industries rose 0.2% (0.7% y/y) following a 0.3% decline in August and no change in July. Manufacturing production excluding selected high-tech and motor vehicles & parts grew 0.5% (0.8% y/y), the third m/m increase in four months, reversing a 0.3% August decrease.

Capacity utilization rose to 76.9% in September, the highest since December 2023, from 76.4% in August (76.3% initially) and 76.4% in July (76.3% previously). The Action Economics Forecast Survey forecasted 76.5%. The September reading was 2.5 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2025) average. Manufacturing capacity utilization inched up to 75.9% in September from 75.8% in August (75.7% initially). The September rate was 2.3 percentage points below its long-run average.

Industrial production and capacity data are in Haver’s **USECON** database. Additional detail on production and capacity utilization can be found in the **IP** database. The expectations figures come from the **AS1REPNA** database.

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- September IP +0.7% (+2.2% y/y), sixth consecutive m/m increase; on an upward trend.
- Manufacturing +0.3% (+1.1% y/y), seventh rise in eight mths., w/ durables +0.1% and nondurables +0.4%.
- Selected high-tech +1.5%, sixth straight m/m gain; motor vehicles -3.0%, third successive m/m drop.
- Utilities +3.5% (+8.7% y/y), fifth rise in six mths., led by a 3.7% jump in electric utilities output.
- Mining +0.2% (+2.8% y/y), up for the sixth month running.
- All key categories in market groups gain m/m except business equipt. (0.0%).
- Capacity utilization up to 76.9%, highest since Dec. ’23; mfg. capacity utilization up to 75.9%.

U.S. Industrial Production Tops Forecasts in September; Manufacturing IP Rebounds

Michael J. Moran

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The consumer price index and the producer price index both showed unsettling increases in September, and export and import prices followed this lead. Import prices jumped 1.1% in September, easily exceeding an expected increase of 0.6%, while export prices surged 2.2%, dwarfing an expected change of 0.7% (expectations from the survey of Action Economics). The monthly results left the year-over-year increase at 8.1% for import prices and 11.6% for export prices.

The industrial-supply category stood out on the import side, increasing 2.7%, which left an advance of 20.4% in the past 12 months. Petroleum prices were the driving force behind the monthly change in this category, with a jump of 4.6%. September followed three quiet months for prices of petroleum products, leaving the level of prices below the peak in May. Prices of imported capital goods, responding to strong business investment in the US, have registered notable increases every month this year, ranging from 0.4% to 1.3%. September brought an increase of 0.9%, which left a year-over-year change of 8.4%.

Prices of imported motor vehicles and non-auto consumer goods had been quiet for much of last year and early this year, but both have registered noticeable increases in recent months. Prices of motor vehicles rose 0.6% in July, held that advance in August, and increased another 0.3% in September. The year-over-year change has moved from -0.4% in June to 1.1% in September. Prices of imported consumer goods declined 0.5% over the 12 months of 2025, but after increases in six of the nine months this year, the year-over-year increase moved to 2.7% in September. 

Some observers might be seeking clues to the effects of tariffs on import prices. However, prices in this report are based on invoices before the imposition of tariffs. If a foreign business wished to absorb a tariff in order to remain competitive in the US, that would be reflected in a lower price or a smaller increase than would have occurred otherwise. Such unpacking is difficult with these figures.

On the export side, the monthly increase of 2.2% in the headline measure was led by the industrial-supply category (4.0% mo/mo, 23.3% yr/yr), no doubt influenced by petroleum products. Prices of capital goods also rose noticeably (0.5% mo/mo, 4.2% yr/yr), but the pressure was less intense than that for imported capital goods. The food component provided a surprise. After increasing at an average monthly rate of 0.6% in the first eight months of the year, prices of exported food jumped 2.7% in September, leaving a year-over-year increase of 9.0%.

Like their counterparts on the import side, prices of exported motor vehicles and non-auto consumer goods have stirred recently. After showing modest changes from late 2025 through the first six months of this year, prices of exported motor vehicles have increased at an average monthly rate of 0.5% in the past three months. Prices of exported non-auto consumer goods, after four quiet months, jumped 1.1% in September, leaving a year-over-year increase of 4.0%.

These import and export price series are not seasonally adjusted; they can be found in Haver’s **USECON** database. Detailed figures are available in the **USINT** database. The expectations figure from the Action Economics Forecast Survey is in the **AS1REPNA** database.

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- Higher prices of industrial supplies and capital goods stand out.
- Prices of motor vehicles and non-auto consumer goods are stirring.

Import & Export Prices in September: Pressure on Both Sides of the Trade Ledger

Robert Brusca

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Think of this as though it's mixed doubles in tennis. This is a chart of the PPI pressures in the monetary union, while the table is a more detailed decomposition of pressures within the HICP consumer price measure. The PPI report is a graphic depiction of where the pressures are coming from in the inflation process at the primary levels. It shows us that the greatest pressures are coming from intermediate goods, where the kick to inflation is the strongest. Next, capital goods prices at the producer level are rising on a milder gradient, enjoying an increase at a pace above 2%. However, consumer goods prices in the PPI framework are weak, with a growth rate that has migrated back down toward zero. Yet in the overall HICP data, consumer prices at the consumer level are showing considerable pressure. They're also showing considerable upward momentum, and they're showing us broad inflation pressures all on their own.

The pressures we see in consumer prices are not being pushed up through the producer-price process per se. However, depending on how you look at or think about consumer prices, we know that PPI prices are part of the cost of consumer goods and transportation costs are actually part of the cost of selling to the public as well. That requires not just the production of consumer goods but also the transportation of them to the wholesale location and then to the retail location. Transportation costs are an important part of consumer prices, and we're more aware of that these days because people do a lot more online shopping. They can see the difference between going to the store for a good and having it delivered to their house, where they have to pay an explicit delivery charge. A delivery charge would reflect the fact that somebody has to come to deliver it, but also that a vehicle has to be driven and that vehicle has to be fueled. The PPI shows us that a lot of the pressure being passed on is coming through that fuel channel.

Despite the fact that there's not a lot of cost-push pressure coming from the producer-price stage of production to the consumer, that certainly does not mean that final product consumer price pressures don't exist. We see those pressures in the detailed consumer price report exhibited in the table. As of September, the HICP headline was up 3.8% over 12 months, with the core at 2.5%. Both of those ring the cash register at a pace too high for the ECB target. As of September, that 3.8% pace is at a 90.8 percentile standing on year-over-year inflation data back to 2001, a 25-year comparison. But the lower 2.5% core pace still has an 85.6 percentile standing on that same timeline. These metrics tell us that not only is inflation too high by the standards of the European Central Bank, but they are also significantly elevated compared to what they've been historically.

We provide year-over-year inflation rates for detailed categories within the HICP as well as in the right-hand column, the rankings of inflation for those different categories. Inflation clocks a pace above the 50% ranking for nine of the categories in the HICP presented in the table. In contrast, only five categories have rankings below 50%. The 50% level is significant for rankings because it identifies the median for each of these measures, so we have above-median inflation in nine categories and below-median inflation in only five.

At the bottom of the table, we look at the percent of categories for which inflation is accelerating over three months and over six months. Over three months, inflation is accelerating for 56% of the categories, whereas over six months inflation is accelerating in 50% of the categories. Acceleration tendencies are neutral; by this, I mean that, in data back to 2001, the average percent accelerating over three months is 50% and the average accelerating over six months is 50.2%, so that inflation accelerating or decelerating over this broad period has been an even-handed proposition, with inflation accelerating about half the time and decelerating about half the time. That's just a statement about the proportion of categories that are accelerating; the next question is how strong the acceleration is, because the ranking at the far-right hand side of the table shows that, for three-month inflation, the ranking for the proportion of categories that are accelerating is at 53.9%, whereas over six months, the ranking is at 53.7%. The table also shows the median inflation for the categories listed in the table as well as the average. In September, the median category saw inflation at 2.7%, while the average category was at 2.9%. The median rank of inflation on data back to 2001 is at 63.6%, while the average rank of inflation back to 2001 is 59.9%. There was a slight step down in the median and average inflation rates between August and September even though the inflation rate had gone up between the two periods.

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These data show inflation diagnostics vary depending on what aspect of inflation we look at, whether it's producer or consumer inflation, and depending on the time horizon that we choose, and whether we're looking at the level of inflation, the change in inflation, or inflation’s tendency to accelerate. All of these are reasonable and even necessary ways to look at inflation in order to understand how virulent it is and how it compares to trends historically. That is a much more complicated exercise than just understanding if inflation is running above or below a central bank’s 2% target.

The inflation-level data are high in terms of both the headline and the core measures. The breadth of inflation across the categories is tilted to being high based upon a comparison of historic rankings that allows comparison of each category to its own history. The proportion of categories with accelerating inflation is also troublesome. Inflation, while not roaring as it did in the 1970s, appears to have insinuated itself broadly in the developed economies because it has been lurking and pressuring prices in different ways for so long. With supply shocks coming unpredictably, it is hard to be optimistic about containing inflation. When central bankers seem more worried about doing something that will protect their reputations and contain expectations rather than actually reducing inflation, you can be sure inflation will linger.

Europe

EMU HICP Detail and Building Pressures

Andrew Cates

**A kinder mix**
The October Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey showed upward revisions to this year’s growth forecasts for fourteen of the sixteen economies the panel covers, and lower inflation forecasts for eleven. In eleven cases the two moved together, with stronger growth and lower inflation. The euro area, Canada and Taiwan were marked up on growth and inflation. France is the only economy with growth marked down and inflation up, while China is the only economy marked lower on both. Three months is a short window and some of this will prove to be noise. Faster growth with slower inflation is consistent with better supply rather than stronger demand, and the panel has rarely leaned this consistently in one direction.

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**Little change at the horizon**
The October release also includes the semiannual long-range survey, and here the US panel has proved markedly less generous. Its estimate of American trend growth over the next five years has risen to 2.1 per cent, two tenths above a year ago, while its long-run inflation view slipped a tenth to 2.2 per cent. Directionally that is the same supply story. The scale of the revisions, however, is modest. Trend growth fell by a full percentage point between 2012 and 2018, and this year's move recovers a fifth of it; 2.1 per cent is precisely where the panel sat in 2016, 2017 and 2021. The long-run inflation estimate, for its part, has not left a 0.2 percentage point band since 2014 and offers little evidence of a change in expectations. Whatever forecasters expect of artificial intelligence, they have yet to write much of it into their long-term outlook.

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**One sector doing the lifting**
US construction spending offers a plainer account of the same phenomenon. Data centres added $36 billion to annual spending in the year to August, power a further $15 billion and public works $13 billion. Against that, residential building fell by $45 billion, manufacturing structures by $42 billion and commercial construction by $7 billion. The expanding categories are precisely those the AI investment narrative celebrates; the contracting ones are larger, and together they more than offset those gains. An economy may run an investment boom in one sector while the remainder of its building activity declines, and the aggregate will appear unremarkable. That is roughly what the figures now describe, and it helps explain why a concentrated investment boom need not imply a large increase in economy-wide growth.

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**What China now sells**
The September trade figures from China, published this week, offered further evidence of the changing composition of demand. Exports rose at their fastest pace since February, and integrated circuits alone accounted for close to a quarter of the increase. Chips now constitute 10% of all Chinese merchandise exports, against roughly 4% through 2021. Motor vehicles have reached 4.6% and lithium-ion batteries 2.4%. Solar cells have travelled in the opposite direction, falling from a peak above 1.8% in early 2023 to little more than 0.5%, with August volumes down almost 40% on the year. The familiar grouping of electric vehicles, batteries and panels no longer moves in unison: two are climbing and the third is in retreat.

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**Europe's widening trade deficit**
For Brussels the arithmetic is uncomfortable. Over the 12 months to September, China sold the European Union $628 billion of goods and bought $279 billion, leaving a bilateral surplus of $349 billion against $285 billion a year earlier. In September alone, Chinese exports to the EU rose 25.3% while its imports rose 0.7%. European sales to China have been flat in nominal dollars for five years. That is the backdrop to this month’s restrictions on hybrid vehicles and to the pressure for rebalancing, although the September data offer little evidence that European measures have yet narrowed the imbalance.

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**Words and pictures**
This leaves the question of what the technology is being used for. Among European enterprises reporting artificial-intelligence use last year, the most common applications were text mining, the generation of images, video and audio, and natural language generation. Applications with a more direct connection to operational efficiency sit lower down the list: process automation, production processes, logistics, autonomous movement. These are 2025 figures, and in a field moving this fast a year is a long time; the survey tells us where adoption had reached, not where it is heading. Even so, capital is flowing into data centres and the chips that fill them, and the chips are moving in volume, while adoption at the level of the firm appears concentrated in the production of content rather than the running of operations. Content generation can itself raise productivity. But until adoption spreads more widely across business operations, the Blue Chip panel has reason to remain cautious about the scale of the gains over the next five years.

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The past week saw investors begin to question the AI optimism that has sustained equity markets all year. Asian technology stocks fell sharply, the Nasdaq retreated to its weakest level this month, and government bonds attracted a defensive bid. The reappraisal arguably concerned positioning in the artificial-intelligence complex rather than the macroeconomic backdrop, which, if anything, improved. The October Blue Chip survey delivered growth upgrades across almost the entire panel alongside lower inflation forecasts for this year (chart 1), a combination consistent with an improvement in supply. The same US forecasters, however, made only modest changes to their view of the coming five years (chart 2). Chinese customs figures for September highlighted the growing importance of chips: exports rose 36.3 per cent on the year and the monthly surplus reached 133.5 billion dollars, with semiconductors furnishing close to a quarter of the increase (chart 4). For the European Union, the bilateral deficit with China has widened by more than $60 billion in 12 months (chart 5). Yet the composition of American construction spending (chart 3) and the uses to which European firms actually put AI technology (chart 6) suggest an expansion narrower than the headline figures imply.

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Charts of the Week: The Narrow Boom

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Total retail sales rose a larger-than-expected 0.8% m/m to $745.02 billion in September, the seventh m/m rise in eight months, following a 1.3% gain in August (+1.1% previously reported on Sept. 28 and +1.2% on Sept. 16) and a 0.4% decline in July (-0.5% previously), data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed, suggesting resilient consumer spending and continued domestic demand in Q3 2026. A 0.3% m/m September increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The year-on-year growth rate accelerated to 6.3% in September, the highest since May, from 5.6% in August (3.7% in September 2025), while remaining well below a high of 17.5% in February 2022 and a record high of 51.5% in April 2021. On a quarterly basis, retail sales rose 1.2% q/q in Q3 ’26 (5.5% y/y), slowing from 2.8% q/q in Q2 ’26 (5.6% y/y), suggesting a cooler pace of nominal consumer spending growth in Q3 ’26. (**Note**: On September 28, the Census Bureau released annual Retail Trade revisions – no new observations were reported; revised data reflected the introduction of new seasonal factors and the results of the 2023 and 2024 Annual Integrated Economic Survey; data were revised back to 1992.)

Excluding motor vehicles & parts, retail sales grew a greater-than-expected 0.9% (7.2% y/y) in September after a 1.4% gain in August (+1.3% previously reported on Sept. 28 and +1.4% on Sept. 16). A 0.5% m/m September rise had been expected. Sales of motor vehicles & parts edged up 0.2% (2.5% y/y), the fourth m/m increase in five months, after a 0.7% August rebound; this compared to a 3.8% drop (-3.5% y/y) in unit light vehicle sales following a 2.2% August gain.

Sales in the retail control group, which excludes autos, building materials, gasoline stations, and food services, ticked up 0.1% (4.7% y/y) in September, the seventh m/m rise in eight months, following a 1.2% rebound in August, capping a firm Q3 2026 for underlying consumer demand. These sales are used in the construction of personal consumption expenditures in NIPA accounts. Nonauto sales excluding gasoline & building materials rose 0.3% (5.1% y/y), up for the seventh time in eight months, after a 1.2% August increase.

Sales by category were mixed in September. Posting the biggest m/m gain among major categories, gasoline station sales surged 6.4% (28.1% y/y) in September, the largest since March, after a 4.0% recovery in August, as the September CPI showed gasoline prices up 9.1% (34.2% y/y); gasoline stations accounted for 71.4% of the $5.7 billion increase in total retail sales. Furniture & home furnishing store sales advanced 1.3% (4.9% y/y) following a 0.2% August increase. Electronics & appliance store sales climbed 0.6% (9.4% y/y), the fourth straight m/m gain and the 11th in 12 months, on top of a 2.1% August rise. Nonstore retail sales grew 0.3% (8.2% y/y), up for the 11th time in 12 months, following a 2.0% August increase. In contrast, miscellaneous store sales dropped 3.0% (+10.9% y/y), the first m/m decline since April and the steepest since August 2025, after a 3.6% August jump. Building materials & garden equipment store sales fell 0.6% (+4.5% y/y) after a 0.2% August increase, and sporting goods, hobby, book & music store sales slid 0.5% (+9.6% y/y) after a 1.0% August rise; both decreased for the second time in three months. General merchandise store sales slipped 0.1% (+4.2% y/y) in September, the first m/m easing since April, after a 0.8% gain in August; within this category, department store sales recovered 1.6% (6.4% y/y), the largest m/m gain since March, following a 0.6% August decline. Meanwhile, clothing & accessory store sales were virtually unchanged m/m (+5.0% y/y) after rises of 0.6% in August and 1.3% in July.

In the nondiscretionary sales categories, health & personal care store sales rose 0.7% (-1.2% y/y) in September, the fourth m/m rise in five months, after a 1.2% increase in August. Food & beverage store sales climbed 0.4% (0.9% y/y) after a 0.2% August gain and declines of 0.2% in July and June.

Consumers appeared to dine out more frequently in September despite still-elevated inflation (September CPI +0.6% m/m, +3.7% y/y; core CPI +0.3% m/m, +2.6% y/y). Restaurant & drinking place sales gained 1.1% (7.0% y/y) in September, the eighth straight m/m rise, after an upwardly revised 1.4% increase in August.

Retail Sales data can be found in Haver's **USECON** database. The expectations figures are from the Action Economics Forecast Survey in **AS1REPNA**.

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- Total retail sales +0.8% (+6.3% y/y) in Sept.; seventh m/m increase in eight mths.
- Ex-auto sales +0.9% (+7.2% y/y), second straight m/m rise; auto sales +0.2% (+2.5% y/y), fourth gain in five mths.
- Ex-gas sales +0.2% (+4.5% y/y) and ex-auto & gas sales +0.2% (+5.0% y/y); both up m/m from Feb. through Sept. except July.
- Retail control group +0.1% (+4.7% y/y), seventh m/m rise in eight mths., capping a firm Q3 ’26 for underlying consumer demand.
- Gains m/m: gasoline stations (+6.4%), department stores (+1.6%), furniture stores (+1.3%), food svcs. (+1.1%).
- Declines m/m: misc. stores (-3.0%), building materials & garden equipt. (-0.6%), sporting goods (-0.5%), general merch. (-0.1%).

U.S. Retail Sales Rise in September, Above Forecasts

Economy in Brief: September 2018

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