"Economic fundamentals remain modest but stable"
- Jenny Lin, a senior U.S. economist at Ford
U.S. retail sales grew to a seasonally adjusted 0.9% in August, up from 0.8% in the previous month, as demand for autos and gasoline rose sharply, the Commerce Department data showed Friday. Service-station sales added 5.5% last month, while auto sales jumped 1.3%.
"You can take some encouragement from this but it's probably not as strong as the headline number suggests," said Millan Mulraine, a senior U.S. strategist at TD Securities in New York.
"Economic fundamentals remain modest but stable," said Jenny Lin, a senior U.S. economist at Ford.
Also Friday, the Labor Department said consumer prices in the world's biggest economy rose more than expected in August, as gasoline prices soared by 9%. U.S. CPI jumped 0.6%, while there was no change in the prior month. Analysts had expected U.S. inflation rate to accelerate to 0.5% last month.
The Standard & Poor's 500 gained 1.63 per cent to 1,459.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.55 per cent to 13,539.86. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.33 per cent to 3,155.83.
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