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RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales in the U.S. during September rose 5.3 percent year on year, according to preliminary government figures, maintaining an annual total of about $69.6 billion. Sales of watches increased 5.9 percent, representing an annual total of about $9.3 billion. Meanwhile, the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) for jewelry was essentially flat, rising just 0.2 percent year on year in September to 181.01 points. Comparatively and across all consumer product categories, real personal consumption increased 2.7 percent in September and the CPI for all product categories combined increased 1.2 percent year on year.
U.S. jewelry store sales growth has performed slightly better than overall jewelry sales in recent months. As reported earlier on Rapaport News, the latest data on jewelry store sales, which was collected for August, revealed that they increased 6.9 percent year on year to $2.389 billion and rose 9.2 percent to $19.652 billion during the first eight months of 2013. Department stores, however, continue to experience a difficult year. Advanced sales estimates for department store sales in September fell 6.7 percent year on year to $12.686 billion, while total retail and food services sales rose 3.5 percent to $425.9 billion. Nonstore retail sales were estimated to have increased 8.9 percent in September, with retail trade sales gaining 3.1 percent. In the U.K., meanwhile, retail sales in September rose 2.2 percent year on year and across the eurozone, retail sales were basically flat, up just 0.3 percent.
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