Americans spent a bit more at retailers last month, providing a small boost to the economy as the Federal Reserve this week considers how much to cut its key interest rate.

Retail sales ticked up 0.1% from July to August, after jumping the most in a year and a half the previous month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Online retailers, sporting goods stores, and home and garden stores all reported higher sales.

The data indicate that consumers are still able and willing to spend more despite the cumulative impact of three years of inflation and the higher interest rates intended to combat those rising prices. Average paychecks, particularly for lower-income Americans, have also risen sharply since the pandemic. And price increases are slowing, with inflation falling to a three-year low last month of 2.5%.

The Fed could provide a further boost to consumers and the economy by lowering borrowing costs. It is likely to reduce its key rate at its meetings in November and December as well as on Wednesday.

In August, sales jumped 1.4% for online retailers in August and rose 0.7% at health and personal care outlets. Yet they were flat for restaurants and bars, a sign that consumers are holding back from some discretionary spending.

Gas stations reported a 1.2% drop in sales, which mostly reflected a decline in prices last month. Auto sales also ticked lower.

On Wednesday, Fed policymakers will decide whether to cut their key interest rate by a typical quarter-point or a larger-than-usual half-point, from its current level of about 5.3%, a 23-year high.

Major retailers say that shoppers will likely remain cautious heading into the critical holiday season, so they’ll be pushing discounts.

“Overall, customers remained deal-focused and attracted to more-predictable sales moments with 4th of July, Black Friday in July and the beginning of back-to-school sales events,” Best Buy’s CEO Corie Barry said recently.

— Associated Press

Instagram making teen accounts private

Instagram is making teen accounts private by default as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives.

Beginning Tuesday in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, anyone under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be placed into restrictive teen accounts and those with existing accounts will be migrated over the next 60 days. Teens in the European Union will see their accounts adjusted later this year.

Parent company Meta acknowledges that teenagers may lie about their age and says it will require them to verify their ages in more instances, like if they try to create a new account with an adult birthday. The Menlo Park, Calif., company also said it is building technology that proactively finds teen accounts that pretend to be grownups and automatically places them into the restricted teen accounts.

Feds OK Alaska-Hawaiian air merger

The Biden administration is letting Alaska Airlines complete its $1 billion purchase of Hawaiian Airlines after the carriers agreed to certain conditions, including maintaining current service on routes between Hawaii and the mainland U.S. where they don’t have much competition.

Transportation Department officials said Tuesday that no obstacles remain to the airlines closing the deal and beginning to merge, although some final approvals were still pending.

Alaska Airlines said it expected to close the deal “in the coming days.”

Alaska’s stock closed down 1%, while shares in Hawaiian Holdings rose 4% to $18, the price per share that Alaska agreed to pay for its smaller rival.

— From news services