US total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, rose 0.74% seasonally adjusted month-over-month (MoM) and 4.13% unadjusted year-over-year (YoY) in October 2024, according to the Consumer News and the Business Channel/National Retail Federation (CNBC/NRF) Retail Monitor.
This marks a clear rebound compared to September, which saw a 0.32% decrease MoM and an increase of 0.55% YoY.
Core retail sales, which excludes food services, auto dealers, and gas stations, rose by 0.83% MoM last month and by 4.59% YoY.
This was a stronger performance compared to September when core sales dipped by 0.28% month over month but still showed a 0.94% increase on a YoY basis.
October’s YoY total sales were the largest since November 2023, when it recorded 4.24% while the YoY increase for core sales was the largest since August 2023, which saw a rise of 4.76%.
For the first ten months of 2024, total sales rose by 2.13% YoY while core sales grew by 2.42%.
In October, sales were up in seven out of nine retail categories on a yearly basis.
Online and other non-store sales increased by 1.84% MoM seasonally adjusted and by 19.38% YoY unadjusted.
Clothing and accessories stores experienced a decrease of 0.57% MoM seasonally adjusted but saw an increase of 8.56% YoY unadjusted.
General merchandise stores saw a seasonally adjusted increase of 0.05% MoM and an increase of 5.51% YoY unadjusted.
Grocery and beverage stores experienced a jump of 0.87% MoM seasonally adjusted and 3.76% YoY unadjusted.
However, electronics and appliance stores saw a decline of 0.81% MoM seasonally adjusted and a decrease of 0.64% YoY unadjusted.
Sporting goods, hobby, music, and book stores were up 2.7% MoM seasonally adjusted but down 1.23% YoY unadjusted.
NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said: “Healthy spending resumed in October as consumers continued to benefit from this year’s job gains and higher wages.
“Inflation is mostly limited to services at this point and prices for some retail goods are actually falling. October sales have set the stage for a good start to the holiday shopping season.”
