Despite pressure from inflation and high interest rates, shoppers found enough room in their budgets to shop in April, albe🍷it✨ while cutting back on some luxuries.

Retail sales rose 0.4% in April to $686 billion, reversing direction after two months of declines, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. It was only the second increase in six months and below the 0.8% jump that economists had forecast, leaving sales still below the $693 billion peak they hit in January. Sales rose a 🧸healthier 0.6% outside of gas a𝕴nd cars, matching the median forecast of economists. 

“Inflation’s persistent impact on consumers is apparent in the year-on-year 🐟comparisons with significant drops in discretionary categories,” Claire Tassin, a retail and e-commerce analyst at Morning Con👍sult, said in a commentary. “Shoppers continue to make tough trade-offs and defer purchases in order to meet their financial obligations.”

The report highli🎶ghted how increases in the cost of living since 2021𒈔 have forced people to change their spending patterns. 

While inflation is on a definite decelerating trend, things 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:like food and cars are much more expensive than they were a year ago. Tassin cited an April Morning Consult poll that showed 85% of Americans said they were concerned about inflation’s impact on their h꧑ousehold finances.

Sales were up in a few categories such as online stores, which rose 1.2%, and restaurants, which rose 0.6%. However, the stress household budgets are under took its toll on sales of home furnishings, which fell 0.7% (down 6.4% over the last year) and electronics, which dropped 0.5% for a 7.3% year-over-year drop🙈.