New York, July 9, 2020 After a coronavirus outbreak (COVD-19) outbreak, a woman carries a shopping bag from Macy’s department store in Midnight Manhattan.
Mike Seger | Reuters
U.S. Retail sales rose less than expected in October and could slow further, preventing the new Covid-19 infection and leaving millions of unemployed Americans without government funding as household incomes plummeted.
Retail sales rose 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. The September data was revised to show sales rose 1.6% instead of the 1.9% previously reported. Voter economists by Reuters predicted retail sales would grow 0.5% in October.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales strengthened 0.1% after a 0.9% increase in September. This so-called major retail sales correspond very closely with the consumer spending component of total domestic production. Earlier in September, their growth was estimated at 1.4%.
According to Reuters, there have been more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases daily since the beginning of this month, with more than 11 million infections in the United States. Some state and local governments have imposed new restrictions on businesses.
Restrictions on crowded places like rent bars and rest restaurants and avoiding customers after losing government weekly unemployment subsidies will reduce costs and could trigger another wave of layoffs.
The supplement, which accounted for more than 3 3 trillion in government coronavirus relief, has been passed on to millions of unemployed and disenfranchised workers. Millions will lose benefits next month when a government-funded program for self-employed, gig workers and others who do not qualify for regular state unemployment programs ends.
The second government program to provide benefits to those who have completed their six-month qualification to assist the state government will also expire at the end of December.
A second defense package is not possible before Biden takes office if elected president in January.
Economists expect moderate retail sales growth for the rest of the year, which will contribute to slower economic growth after a historic historical slump in GDP in the third quarter. A JPMorgan survey of credit and debit cardholders saw a sharp drop in spending during the November 9 period, with Covid-19 dripping big in the fastest-spreading states.
The fourth quarter growth estimate is below the 5% annual rate. The economy grew at a rate of 311% in the second quarter of the July-September quarter, followed by a growth rate of 33.1% in 1947, the deepest since the government began setting records in 1947.
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