NEW YORK (AP) — Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases Americans spent at a brisk pace last month, though much of that spending was done online and not at restaurants or other industries beleaguered by the arrival of the delta variant.
Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in August from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday. That uptick caught economists looking for a downturn by surprise. Consensus estimates were for a decrease of 0.85%, according to a survey by FactSet.
But the delta variant has changed where Americans spend their…
