October retail sales rose from the previous month, reflecting continued resilience among American consumers.
Retail sales increased by 0.4% in October. Economists had expected an increase of 0.3%, based on Bloomberg data. Meanwhile, retail sales in September were revised up to an increase of 0.8% compared to the initial reading which showed an increase of 0.4% in the month, based on the Department of Statistics.
October sales, excluding autos and gas, rose 0.1%, below the consensus estimate of 0.3%. The control group in Tuesday's report, which excludes some volatile categories and includes in the gross domestic product (GDP) reading for the quarter, fell 0.1% in October, below estimates for a 0.3% increase. This shows that sales in the control group increased by 1.2% in September.
The report comes as investors continue to closely monitor the health of the US economy amid moves by the Federal Reserve to ease its tight interest rate policy. So far, economic data has been largely better than expected, a positive sign for investors as markets begin to accept that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates as quickly as expected.
In a prepared statement on Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said, "The economy is not giving any indication that we need to rush to lower interest rates."
Powell added, "The strength we're seeing in the economy right now gives us the ability to make decisions with caution."
As of Friday, markets were predicting a nearly 60% chance the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its next meeting on Dec. 18, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
