In US retail sales the retail sales increased above the expected levels in August by an advance report of the Census Bureau, with a rise of 0.6 to reach an amount of $732 billion which marked the third month in a row of rising sales and a growth rate that is indicative of the same trend strengthened by previous months and by a wide margin more than is forecasted by economists.
The sales are above the expectations of the economists
According to Advisor Perspectives, the Census Bureau Advance Retail Sales Report released on August indicated that consumer spending was also stronger than anticipated, where headline sales registered an increase of 0.6 percent as compared to the anticipated 0.2 percent monthly growth. This matches July and has its upwardly revised 0.6% growth, and is the third consecutive month of growth in headline sales.
The U.S. retail and food services sales estimates are also given in advance and adjusted to the seasonal change, and also to the holidays and the trading day changes, but the estimates do not take into consideration the changes in prices that may occur. The estimates were provided in terms of August 2025 and were in billions of dollars.
The report recorded sales growth of 0.6 percent in comparison with the last month, and 5.0 percent in comparison with August 2024. The June 2025 to August 2025 total sales registered higher than they had been in the June 25 to August 25 period of the previous year by 4.5 percent. According to the Census Bureau, the June 2025 to July 2025 percent change had to change upwards from 0.5 percent to 0.6 percent.
Good performance in retail categories
Retail trade sales increased 0.6 percent in July 2025 and 4.8 percent in the previous year. Retailers were up 10.1 per cent as compared to last year, and food service and drinking places were up 6.5 per cent as compared to August 2024. Core (in exclusion of Autos) sales increased by 0.7 per cent in August. This compares to July and increased 0.4% reading, which was featured in an upward revision, and also increased by more than 0.4% growth as expected.
Core retail sales have risen 4.9 percent versus one year earlier, the largest in six months ever. The following two charts depict retail sales control purchases, which is still further an even more core view of retail sales. This series does not include motor vehicles and parts, gasoline, building materials, food service,s and drinking places. The retail sales control purchase increased by 0.7% in August.
The consumer spending is robust
This is compared to the July 0.5% growth and is superior to the anticipated 0.4% increase in control sales. Existing controlling buys are 6.0% higher than one year ago, the first time since February 2023. Since March 2021, monthly retail sales have been on the higher side of the light purple and blue line, indicating more consumer spending that, most likely, was pent up due to the pandemic.
The percent change of the years offers another view of the change in history. The present retail sales have increased by 5.0 percent over a period of one year. This series is generally disregarded in the popular financial press; however, it is a more reliable and uniform reading of the economy. The two series are more interspersed, for a greater idea of the lower volatility of the “control” series, yet there are bigger extreme highs and lows of the headline sales compared with the extreme highs and lows of the control series.
The strong performance of August retail sales reflects the strength of consumer expenditure resilience, and the growth of retail sales of 0.6% monthly to $732 billion is above the projected figure of 727.9 and indicates a positive continuity of growth. This expansion of categories indicates stability of the economies, although constant monitoring is necessary since the economic forces may still be changing up until the end of 2025.