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September 17, 2021

Surprise uptick in spending by Americans as delta spreads

  • Online sales soared 5.3% last month, while sales at restaurants and bars were flat.
  • By JOSEPH PISANI
    AP Retail Writer

    NEW YORK — Americans continued to spend at a brisk pace last month in the face of rising COVID-19 infections, though much of it was done online and not at restaurants or other sectors in the U.S. economy beleaguered by the arrival of the delta variant.

    Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in August from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday. That uptick caught most economists by surprise. Consensus estimates were for a decrease of 0.85%, according to a survey of economists by FactSet.


     
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