Americans picked up the pace on spending in March even as they continued to face high interest rates and steeper prices for everyday goods.
Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spent on a number of everyday goods including cars, food and gasoline, jumped 0.7% in March, the Commerce Department said Monday. That is much higher than the 0.3% increase forecast by LSEG economists.
The March advance is not adjusted for inflation, meaning that consumers may be spending the same but getting less bang for their buck.
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