Spending on manufactured goods rose by 0.8 percent on the month in September, handily beating market expectations of a 0.4 percent gain, following a downwardly revised 0.7 percent slump in August. However, spending slumped by 3.1 percent on an annual basis, far worse than the upwardly revised 1.4 percent decline in August.

Durable goods rose by 0.3 percent, with household durables increasing by 0.8 percent, accounting for much of the September rebound.

Elsewhere, spending on food jumped by 1.2 percent, but that was nearly offset by the energy sector, which slumped by 1.3 percent. That led to a 0.2 percent gain in total household consumption.

The surprisingly strong consumer data helped to lift broader economic output into the black in the third quarter. Gross domestic product rose by 0.1 percent, with a 0.7 percent in household spending doing much of the heavy lifting.

The latest data put the French RPI at 14 and the RPI-P at 17, meaning that overall economic activity is performing just marginally better than market expectations.

Spending on manufactured goods is seen climbing 0.4 percent on the month and so only reversing a portion of August's 0.6 percent decline.

Consumption of manufactured goods by consumers is an indicator of consumer spending for household durable goods such as autos and furniture. The data are released separately as part of the report on total goods spending.

This indicator is a measure of retail sales and is unique to France. It measures consumer spending for household durable goods such as autos and furniture. The data are seasonally and workday adjusted. These adjustments eliminate the fluctuations that are solely due to changes in the number of working days. The data appear to be particularly sensitive to the number of worked Saturdays. With consumer spending a large part of the economy, market players continually monitor spending patterns. Retail sales are a measure of consumer well-being.

The pattern in consumer spending is often the foremost influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds, the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation. Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and excessive (inflationary) growth.

Retail sales not only give you a sense of the big picture, but also the trends among different types of retailers. Perhaps auto sales are especially strong or apparel sales are showing exceptional weakness. These trends from the retail sales data can help you spot specific investment opportunities, without having to wait for a company's quarterly or annual report.