Retail Sales Key To US Booming Economic Growth

Retail Sales Key To US Booming Economic Growth

September was a booming month in America when retail sales rose as customers paced up purchases from cars to electronics, a sign that consumer spending is driving faster economic growth.

Other U.S. data on Monday noted to an economy feeling the effects of cooling global growth, with New York state factory activity shrinking in October.

However, consumer spending remains the U.S. economy's biggest engine, and expectations for third-quarter economic growth progressed after the Commerce Department reported a 1.1 percent raise in retail sales during September.

A drop in the jobless rate last month and a rise in consumer confidence plus the reading, which beat analysts' forecasts, builds on other signs of growing economic momentum.

"The news flow on the U.S. economy keeps getting better," said Chris Williamson, an economist at Markit in London.

"This is a good end of (the) third quarter and we have some good momentum to the fourth quarter," said Craig Dismuke, an economic strategist at Vining Sparks in Memphis, Tennessee.

A raise of 1.9 percent, up three tenths of a point from its previous view, for the pace of third-quarter was viewed by Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting firm for the pace of third-quarter

The details of the retail sales report showed broad strength, with sales outside autos, gasoline and building materials -- a closely followed barometer of consumer spending -- climbing 0.9 percent last month. That was well above expectations.

Still, there were signs that some of the boost in spending could prove fleeting.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday October 17 2012, 6:23 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0