After a 0.4 percent increase in September, consumers didn't increase their spending on manufactured goods in October, although expenditures were up 0.7 percent over a year ago.

Spending on household durables fell 0.2 percent month-on-month in October, while outlays for textiles and clothing fell 0.1 percent. Compared to year-ago levels, respective spending was up 2.0 percent and down 0.5 percent.

Consumers increased their spending on transportation goods by 0.3 percent month-on-month, corresponding to a 0.2 percent year-on-year increase.

During October, spending on energy was up 1.4 percent compared to September, led by a 2.2 percent increase in energy, water, and waste. At the same time, spending on food rose 0.4 percent month-on-month while falling 0.5 percent year-on-year.

Taking all the main categories together, consumer spending was up 0.4 percent in October compared to the prior month, the same rate as for the year-on-year change.

Consumers still are reluctant to pull the stops out on their spending, and the increased outlays on energy is taking the wind out of more discretionary spending. There's no sign the consumer will come to the rescue anytime soon for the overall economy.

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.