Retail sales rebound in June after 2 straight months of declines

Finance·shoppingRetail sales rebound in June after 2 straight months of declinesBy Anne D'InnocenzioBy The Associated PressBy Anne D'InnocenzioBy The Associated Press The American shopper loves to spend

However, AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, fileConsumers picked up their spending in June after an earlier pullback, despite anxiety over tariffs and the state of the U

On the other hand, Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0 (an important development). 6% in June, the Commerce Department said Thursday, after two consecutive months of spending declines, a 0. 1% pullback in April and a 0. 9% slowdown in May, amid market uncertainty

The erratic consumer spending is taking place during a period of mixed signals the economy as well

Job market is ving to be very resilient, and major tariffs keep getting postponed

Healthy spending continues, with a heavy focus on necessities, rather than electronics or new appliances

Yet consumers haven’t completely cut out spending on nonessential goods

Sales at restaurants, the lone services component within the Census Bureau report and a barometer of discretionary spending, rose moderately. “Consumers are only feeling a modest amount of pressure from tariffs, and any weakness here is not having much of an effect in forcing them to pull back on more discretionary areas of spending such as restaurants and bars,” wrote William Blair’s macro analyst Richard de Chazal

Yet Chazal fears that the administration may be picking up false assurances from strong consumer spending

At the same time, Consumer sentiment and have tumbled after aggressive tariff announcements, and many economist expect rising prices will have a greater impact on consumers before the year is over, considering recent developments

Spending expanded across most major including clothing and personal care

Excluding autos and automotive parts, sales rose 0. 5%, according to the Commerce Department Clothing and accessories sales rose 0. 9%, while health and personal care sales saw a 0

Nevertheless, Online retailers recorded a 0

Electronics and appliance retailers, furniture stores and department stores all saw sales declines

Moreover, The ducts sold in these sectors are heavily imported

Additionally, The figure s into the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s consumption estimate and is sign that consumers are still spending on some discretionary items, in this volatile climate

Nevertheless, Heather Long, the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that layoffs remain low and consumers are still confident enough that the economy is chugging along. “Don’t count the American consumer out yet,” said Long in a statement. “There’s still a lot of trepidation tariffs and ly price hikes, but consumers are willing to buy if they feel they can get a good deal

The word of the summer for the economy is resilient. ” The retail sales report arrives amid a whipsaw frenzy of on and off again tariffs have that jolted es and households

Owners say it’s become very difficult to manage supplies and inventories, given the current landscape

Additionally, Americans, when they do shop, are generally steering of the things they don’t absolutely need

The government report showed that inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as Trump’s sweeping tariffs push up the costs of everything from groceries and clothes to furniture and appliances

Consumer prices rose 2, in light of current trends. 7% in June from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, up from an annual increase of 2

Trump insists that the U

Moreover, Effectively has no inflation as he has attempted to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell into reducing short-term interest rates

Additionally, Yet the new inflation data makes it increasingly ly that the central bank will leave rates where they are for at least a bit longer

Nevertheless, Powell has said that he wants to measure the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs on prices before reducing borrowing costs

A notable litmus test the state of the consumer was Amazon’s four-day Prime event along with competing retail sales from the s of Walmart and Target that kicked off last week

Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks online sales, reported that the sales events drove $24 (an important development)

Additionally, And again, those who were spending prioritized essentials dish soap and paper ducts over big-ticket purchases, according to consumer data vider Numerator, based on its analysis of Amazon Prime orders

On the other hand, Deborah Weinswig, founder and CEO of Coresight Re, said she’s becoming more optimistic the financial health of the consumer after the big retail events, given the current landscape

Nevertheless, She said inventories are at a healthy level, and she didn’t see big fire sales

On the other hand, ”People aren’t buying things that they don’t need,” she said (remarkable data). “I think it’s a healthier retail environment

At the same time, ” Retailers are now turning their attention to the back-to-school shopping season, which is the second largest consumer rush after the winter holidays

Meanwhile, Coresight Re estimates that total U

However, Back-to-school spending will increase by 3

And it predicts that shoppers will do a big chunk of their shopping before August to get ahead of tariffs

Economists will also dissect quarterly financial reports next month from major retailers Walmart, Target and Macy’s, both for consumer behavior and to gauge how es are navigating a chaotic period of global trade due to fluid U

Said last week that it was cutting back on making styles that aren’t selling and making targeted price increases as it moves duction away from China due to tariffs

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