U.S. Retail Sales Rise on Gas, Auto Spending and iPhone Sales

Seasonally adjusted U.S. Retail Sales rose in September by 1.1%, slightly slower than August’s 1.2% and largely fueled by iPhone 5 and automobile purchases.

The actual sales in autos dropped by $30 million when not seasonally adjusted, but with the adjustment, almost $4.5 million more was spent on cars in September than in August. Sales in electronics dropped from $8.1 milllion to $7.8 million un-adjusted, but rose nearly $.4 million when adjusted by the Department of Commerce for seasonal factors.

Without the seasonal adjustment, the retail sales figures dropped by almost $32 million dollars from August. When compared with last September, spending has risen a little more than $11 million dollars across the entire economy.

Year-over-year, automobiles are showing some weakness. An almost $5 million dollar drop in sales is evident from last September’s un-adjusted numbers  to this year. Oddly, considering September is in the same part of the calendar each year, the seasonally adjusted numbers reverse the trend.

Seasonal adjustments also seem to be magnifying the uptick in electronics sales and re-stating the sudden downward movement in building supplies and gasoline sales – sectors that had been showing spending increases recently. Building supplies dropped more then $2million in the base numbers, but showed slight improvement in the seasonal adjustments. Auto fuel showed almost $3 million less in spending from August when not adjusted, but more than $1 million increase in spending when the Commerce Department does its magic.