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Retail sales rise in August

Retail sales rose 0.9 percent from July 2012. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales rose 4.7 percent.

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This chart shows retail sales levels over the past 20 years. Nominal "discretionary" retail sales, including home furnishings, home garden and building materials, consumer electronics and department store sales increased just 0.24 percent from July 2012.

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest nominal read of retail sales showing an increase of 0.9% from July and an increase of 4.7% on a year-over-year basis on an aggregate of all items including food, fuel and healthcare services.

Nominal "discretionary" retail sales including home furnishings, home garden and building materials, consumer electronics and department store sales increased just 0.24% from July and a tepid 1.93% above the level seen in August 2011 while, adjusting for inflation, “real” discretionary retail sales increased a slight 0.24% over the same period.

On a “nominal” basis, there had appeared to be “rough correlation” between strong home value appreciation and strong retail spending preceding the housing bust and an even stronger correlation when home values started to decline.

There is, at the very least, a coincidental change to home values and consumer spending during the boom and then the bust, but as home values have continued to decline, retail spending has remained low but has not continued to consistently contract.

The “rough correlation” between the year-over-year change to the “discretionary” retail sales series and the year-over-year S&P/Case-Shiller Composite series seems now even more significant.

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