Retail and food services sales increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, to $422.8 billion for June, according to a Commerce Department report (link opens in PDF) released today.
After heading up a revised 0.5% in May, analysts had expected a 0.8% June jump, double the actual increase.
Top-line numbers look even less optimistic when accounting for more volatile automobile and gasoline sales. Auto sales boosted up 1.8% for June, putting retail sales, less motor vehicles, at 0% (no growth) compared to analysts' 0.5% expectations. And, when excluding gasoline's 0.7% month-over-month gain, as well, retail sales contracted by 0.1% for June.
Source: Census.gov
Outside of these two sectors, furniture stores led sales with a 2.4% increase, while "miscellaneous store retailers" lagged with a 2.5% drop.
Over the last year, retail sales are up 5.7%, pushed ahead by a 13.8% jump in nonstore retail sales, an 11.4% boost in auto sales, and a 9.4% boost in building materials.
