Retail Sales: Down 0.1% in September

September retails sales were today reported by the Census Department as having fallen by $461M or 0.1% compared with the (revised) August figure.

This figure was swamped by the single category of Motor Vehicle & Parts Dealers, which dropped by $1.77bn or 2.2%.

The two charts below show, first,  the distribution of sales growth across different categories for the past three months, and secondly the total September sales across the same categories.

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The two charts to the right plot the total Retail Sales with and without the contribution of vehicle sales. The volatility in Vehicle sales series is particularly high in August through October probably due to the seasonal adjustment model struggling with the timing of the new model-year sales.

 

Revisions to prior months sales were minimal.