Retail sales up 0.6%, topping forecast for August

Retail Sales - Retail sales for August increased by 0.6%, significantly exceeding expectations of a 0.2% rise, marking the highest increase since June when it was up nearly 1% [1] - Excluding autos, retail sales rose by 0.7%, the best performance since June when it was up 0.8% [1] - Core retail sales, known as control group sales, also increased by 0.7%, indicating strong consumer spending [1] Import Prices - Import prices for August unexpectedly rose by 0.3%, contrary to expectations of a 0.2% decline, following a previous increase of 0.4% [3] - Year-over-year import prices remained unchanged at 0%, aligning closely with expectations [3] - Excluding petroleum, import prices increased by 0.2% [3] Export Prices - Month-over-month export prices rose by 0.3%, the highest increase since June when it was up 0.5% [4] - Year-over-year export prices saw a significant increase of 3.4%, the largest increase of the year, with the last comparable figure being at the end of 2022 [4]