Strong Retail Sales, Higher Jobless Claims Could Bring More Choppiness | investing.com – Investing.com

Strong Retail Sales, Higher Jobless Claims Could Bring More Choppiness | investing.com – Investing.com

U.S. unexpectedly rose in August, up 0.7%. Economists were expecting a decrease of 0.7% as the Delta variant was forecasted to keep people away from brick-and-mortar establishments like restaurants. They also pointed to continuing supply-chain issues leading to product shortages.

Retail sales include spending on meals, cars, clothes and computers. Together, they are a huge part of consumer spending and economic demand in the U.S. If, or some believe when, the Delta variant crests, economists are expecting a recovery of retail sales just in time for the holiday shopping season, when some consumers will be armed with savings and pent-up demand. But that rosy scenario has some caveats, like an increase in vaccination rates, an ease of product shortages, and the avoidance of another major and contagious COVID variant.

also provided a little surprise this morning. Initial unemployment claims came in at 332,000 versus an expected 322,000 for the week ended Sept. 11. The pandemic-era low number is sowing seeds of optimism that the U.S. labor market is experiencing sustained improvement.