U.S. Retail Sales Rise 0.2% Month-on-Month... Jobless Claims Down 8,000 From Previous Week

Falling Gasoline Prices Limit Retail Sales Growth

Online Sales Boosted by Amazon Discounts

Labor Market Remains Stable

U.S. retail sales in June continued to grow at a modest pace, while the number of new jobless claims fell below market expectations. These indicators suggest that consumer spending and the labor market are not contracting sharply.

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on the 16th (local time) that retail sales in June reached $768.6 billion, up 0.2% from the previous month. This matched the expert estimates compiled by Dow Jones, but the increase was significantly slower than May's 1.0% growth rate. Year-over-year, retail sales rose by 6.7%.

Monthly retail sales are a leading indicator that primarily measures merchandise sales among overall consumption. It is regarded as a key indicator for gauging the flow of consumer spending, which is the backbone of the U.S. economy.

Falling gasoline prices limited the overall growth in retail sales. Gas station revenues dropped by 5.3% from the previous month, marking the steepest decline since July 2022.

However, the extra money saved from reduced fuel costs led to increased spending in other areas, with retail sales excluding gas stations rising by 0.7%.

Thanks to major discount events such as Amazon's Prime Day, online shopping sales increased by 1.9%. The World Cup also contributed to a 0.3% increase in revenues for restaurants and bars.

The labor market also remained stable. The U.S. Department of Labor announced that new jobless claims for the week of July 5 to July 11 stood at 208,000, down 8,000 from the previous week. This figure was also lower than the 218,000 forecasted by experts surveyed by Dow Jones.

New jobless claims have recently been hovering in the low 200,000s, indicating that layoffs are not increasing at a rapid pace.

The number of continuing jobless claims, referring to those applying for unemployment benefits for more than two weeks, was 1,805,000 for the week of June 28 to July 4, down 16,000 from the previous week.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.