- US retail sales rose 0.5% through March as inflation surged to its fastest rate since 1981.
- Economists expected a gain of 0.6%. The print also marked a deceleration from February's pace.
- The data still shows Americans spending big despite the Russia-Ukraine war driving prices higher.
Americans kept spending big through March, effectively waving off inflation woes and pushing more gas into the US's economic engine.
Spending at retailers and restaurants rose 0.5% last month to a record $665.7 billion, the Census Bureau said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected sales to climb 0.6%. The print also showed spending slowing from February's 0.8% gain amid new inflation pressures from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The February spending sum was revised to $662.4 billion from $658.1 billion, according to the report.
March saw inflation surge to an even more concerning high as Russia's invasion dramatically lifted prices for a range of goods. The conflict and related sanctions hammered supply chains for staples like wheat, fertilizer, and nickel, raising fresh inflation concerns for food producers and manufacturers. Measures targeting Russia's energy sector also drove gas prices to record highs in mid-March, escalating pain for Americans at the pump.
All told, broad inflation hit a year-over-year pace of 8.5% last month, according to government data published Tuesday. The one-month gain of 1.2% was also the largest since 2005, signaling price growth did anything but cool through March. Climbing prices likely played some role in the higher overall retail sales figure, but the gain was mostly fueled by Americans' seemingly insatiable demand.
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