US retail sales rose 0.1% in August, defying economists' expectations of a 0.2% month-over-month decline. Yahoo Finance Markets Reporter Josh Schafer and Autos Reporter Pras Subramanian join the Morning Brief to dig into the data and discuss what it signals about the health of the consumer.

Schafer explains that the consumer is slowing down, but not at a rapid pace. He notes that retail sales data is a rather volatile monthly print and it is likely to be revised. The Federal Reserve will likely avoid putting too much weight on this print as it considers whether to cut interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points this week.

Auto sales fell 0.1% in August but are overall up 1.3% year over year. Subramanian explains that consumers still need cars and are willing to buy them even in a higher-rate environment, which is why auto sales have increased since 2023.

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl