US retail sales grew surprisingly in August by 0.3 per cent, as a drop in gasoline prices encouraged consumers to lower some of their recent cautions with respect to other areas of spending.

Spending on autos and parts grew a hefty 2.8 per cent, while there were also significant gains for hospitality venues, general merchandise stores, and sporting goods shops.

Despite that, core retail sales, which exclude spending on autos, declined 0.3 per cent in the month. That drawback was also apparent in the Census Bureau revising its estimate for July’s retail sales to establish a drop of 0.4 per cent.

Overall, retail sales were up 9.1 per cent from August last year, which equates to an upsurge of less than 1 per cent when adjusted for inflation. Sales at gas stations plunged 4.2 per cent, while sales excluding gasoline and autos grew 0.3 per cent. Notably, consumers use the savings that they accumulated during the pandemic.

As China overcomes the problems it suffered earlier in the year with the lockdown of key ports, price forces in the economy seem to be easing in part because of the normalisation in freight markets. Import price data published on Thursday revealed a second straight decline in August, by 1.0 per cent.