Retail sales figures in September lower than last month
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PrintRetail sales totaled $306 billion for the month of September, according to the Commerce Department. This is lower than the figure for August, but higher than in the first 7 months of the year and last December. The figures are seasonally adjusted to take into account holiday sales and other variations, but not adjusted for price changes.
This figure is a 6.4 percent drop from the same month last year, when retails sales were at $327 billion. Gasoline stations sales were down 25.3 percent from September 2008 and building material and garden equipment sales were down 13.0 percent from last year.
Automobile and other vehicle dealer sales were at a seasonally adjusted $49.6 billion. This is down from last months $56.3 billion. Last year the figure was $55.4 billion. On average the 2009 figures are the lowest it has been since 1998.
In the years from 2000 to 2007, the average automobile sales has been more than $60 billion a month. In 2008 and 2009 sales have been trending down from $67.6 billion in January of 2008 to the present figure of $ 49.6 billion.
Gasoline station sales have fluctuated between $26.9 billion in January to $31.4 billion in September, while in 2008, the highest month was July, when sales were at $44.3 billion.
Clothing and accessories stores in the retail sector had sales of $17.4 billion last month, the highest it has been this year since February, when it was $17.9 billion. Last September the figure for clothing store sales were at $17.7 billion.
