Spending on manufactured goods by French consumers increased 0.7 percent in April from March when they spent 1.0 percent less, boosted by expenditures for durable goods. Year-on-year, overall spending on engineered goods was down 0.9 percent in April.

Consumers spent 0.8 percent more on durable goods in April than in March, when spending contracted 1.7 percent. Within the sector, spending increased 1.4 percent on transportation equipment, particularly on automobiles, in April after a 2.8 percent drop in March. They also spent 0.4 percent more on household durables and 0.5 percent less on"other" durable goods.

Energy expenditures fell 3.6 percent in April, after a 1.9 percent drop in March, the largest drop since December 2022. As the PPI data showed today, mild temperatures and increased production of solar and wind power helped to lower prices.

Other data show that French consumers are still somewhat apprehensive and today's GDP data showed increased savings, albeit in the first quarter. Nevertheless, today's results possibly reflect consumers making major purchases now, likely in the face of tariff uncertainties.

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.