[NYT via Hot Air] Today’s retail sales numbers from the Commerce Department looked good — nominally, anyway. Once their numbers got adjusted for inflation, it looked more like Americans have begun pulling back on their consumption. The New York Times took a pessimistic view of the July retail sales report, noting that it was "virtually unchanged" from June after accounting for inflation:U.S. retail sales were virtually unchanged in July, slowed by the falling price of gasoline, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That followed a revised 0.8 percent rise in June, which was driven in part by accelerating prices at the gas pump.
Excluding the sale of gas and cars, retail sales rose 0.7 percent last month, more than economists had expected.
The mixed results were also reflected in a widely varied batch of earnings reports by major retailers this week, as the companies wrestle with the effects that high inflation is having on consumer spending.
The retail sales data, which does not adjust for price increases, showed that spending in nine of the 13 categories went up last month. Spending at gas stations fell 1.8 percent in July, after a 2.5 percent rise in June, as prices at the pump steadily dropped as a result of decreased demand and falling oil prices. Spending on cars, clothing and goods at department stores also fell in July.
CNBC’s Jeff Cox also took a glass-half-empty perspective on retail sales. It’s not a contraction, at least not yet, but it’s a stall: