United States Retail Sales rose by 1.2% MoM in August

Retail Sales in the US grab extra pace in August.
US Dollar Index trades with humble gains near 99.70.

FXStreet Team FXStreet

Retail Sales in the United States increased to $773.9 billion in August, the US Census Bureau reported on Wednesday. This print represents a monthly gain of 1.2%, a reversal of the 0.5% contraction recorded in the previous month, and came in above market expectations (+0.8%). On a yearly basis, Retail Sales were up 6% in this period.

"Total sales for the June 2026 through August 2026 period were up 6.0 percent (±0.5 percent) from the same period a year ago. The June 2026 to July 2026 percent change was revised from down 0.6 percent (±0.4 percent) to down 0.5 percent (±0.2 percent),” the press release read.

Market reaction

The Greenback clinches a modest advance in the wake of the publication of Retail Sales data on Wednesday, with the US Dollar Index (DXY) hovering around the 99.70 region, further extending its multi-day recovery.

GDP FAQs

What is GDP and how is it recorded?

A country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the rate of growth of its economy over a given period of time, usually a quarter. The most reliable figures are those that compare GDP to the previous quarter e.g Q2 of 2023 vs Q1 of 2023, or to the same period in the previous year, e.g Q2 of 2023 vs Q2 of 2022. Annualized quarterly GDP figures extrapolate the growth rate of the quarter as if it were constant for the rest of the year. These can be misleading, however, if temporary shocks impact growth in one quarter but are unlikely to last all year – such as happened in the first quarter of 2020 at the outbreak of the covid pandemic, when growth plummeted.

How does GDP influence currencies?

A higher GDP result is generally positive for a nation’s currency as it reflects a growing economy, which is more likely to produce goods and services that can be exported, as well as attracting higher foreign investment. By the same token, when GDP falls it is usually negative for the currency. When an economy grows people tend to spend more, which leads to inflation. The country’s central bank then has to put up interest rates to combat the inflation with the side effect of attracting more capital inflows from global investors, thus helping the local currency appreciate.

How does higher GDP impact the price of Gold?

When an economy grows and GDP is rising, people tend to spend more which leads to inflation. The country’s central bank then has to put up interest rates to combat the inflation. Higher interest rates are negative for Gold because they increase the opportunity-cost of holding Gold versus placing the money in a cash deposit account. Therefore, a higher GDP growth rate is usually a bearish factor for Gold price.

Author

FXStreet Team

FXStreet

Composed of a group of economic journalists and FX experts, the FXStreet content team produces and oversees all content published on FXStreet. It provides a purely journalistic approach to the Forex market.

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