Nominal retail sales beat forecasts; real sales are softer
August's nominal retail-sales growth was 1.2% month over month, ahead of the 0.8% consensus estimate; same-store sales were 1.4% versus 0.4% expected. But real sales excluding gasoline stations rose only to just below June's level. Including gasoline, real sales rebounded to slightly above June. The contrast is a reminder that the nominal figure and the CPI-adjusted figure answer different questions. The excerpt does not identify the cause of the gap.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The nominal beat is a real data point, but it is not the same as an inflation-adjusted improvement.
The gasoline-excluding series is narrower, so it should not be treated as the whole retail picture.
Read the two measures together: one includes gasoline, the other removes it and adjusts for prices.