In a sign that Americans are shrugging off fears of a recession, consumer sales jumped a full percentage point in June after seeing a decrease of 0.1% in May, with consumer spending providing a stabilizing influence on the US economy, the Associated Press reports.
Calculating inflation into the data, sales increased by 0.3% in June following a drop of 0.4% in May. Furniture sales (up 1.4%), restaurant revenues (up 1.0%) and electronics (up 0.4%) were the categories with the most solid data improvements. Online sales rose 2.4%, which department store retail sales continued to slide, decreasing 2.6%.
The data from the Commerce Department indicates a steady, though not explosive economic growth expected for 2020, with Kathy Bostjancic, chief U.S. economist at analyst firm Oxford Economics, predicting the US will see a scant 0.5% GDP growth for the second quarter of 2022.
Analysts believe school shopping season, which starts in mid-July, will see a 7.5% increase over last year, when school supply sales jumped more than 10% as students and parents prepared to return to school buildings after a year of pandemic-forced remote education.