Retail sales up slightly

WASHINGTON — Consumers lost a little of their enthusiasm for auto purchases last month but spent like mad in a number of other areas including clothing and gasoline, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Overall, retail sales were up 0.2 percent in October after having risen by 1.6 percent in September, which had been the biggest gain in six months.

The slowdown last month reflected a big 2.2 percent decline in auto sales. Without this big decline, retail sales would have risen by 0.9 percent last month, the best showing since last May, as various sectors outside of autos made signficant gains.

Sales at clothing stores shot up 3 percent as cooler weather lured shoppers into buying winter clothes. General department stores saw a solid gain as well of 0.9 percent. Both increases gave encouragement that consumers will keep cash registers ringing during the all-important Christmas sales season.

“In October, people bought just about everything,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “Demand for clothing, furniture, general merchandise, food, restaurants and health products was solid.”

Analysts, who had been worried that consumer confidence could falter because of the sharp runup in energy prices, took heart from the widespread strength in retail sales outside of autos although they noted that the big 4.3 percent jump in sales at gasoline service stations reflected higher pump prices rather than people driving more.

Economists were also encouraged by a second report showing that the preliminary reading of consumer confidence in early November rose to 95.5, up from 91.7 in October, a rebound that analysts said probably reflected in part relief that the uncertainty caused by the presidential election was now over.