You can sign up right hereThat was the take from Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, after seeing the data on US retail sales for August. What's happening: Contrary to expectations, US retail sales increased last month as consumers continued to shell out on clothing, furniture and groceries. It's a promising sign heading into the crucial holiday shopping season , and indicates that the US economy is demonstrating resilience despite a spike in coronavirus cases triggered by the Delta variant. Another signal: There were 332,000 initial jobless claims in the United States last week. Rising prices due to inflation could be contributing to higher retail sales, muddying the picture.

Source: CNN September 17, 2021 12:11 UTC