The Commerce Department
announced on Tuesday that sales at U.S. retailers were flat m-o-m in June, following an upwardly
revised 0.3 per cent m-o-m gain (from +0.1 per cent m-o-m) in May.
Economists had predicted
total sales would be unchanged m-o-m in June.
According to
the report, the June flat performance of the total retail sales reflected
declines in such three retail categories as gasoline stations (-3.0 per cent
m-o-m), motor vehicle and parts dealers (-2.0 per cent m-o-m), and sporting
goods, hobby, musical instrument, and book stores (-0.1 per cent m-o-m) that
offset advances in 10 other remaining categories.
Excluding auto,
retail sales jumped 0.4 per cent m-o-m in June after an upwardly revised 0.1
per cent advance m-o-m (from -0.1 per cent m-o-m) in the previous month, exceeding economists’ forecast
of a 0.1 per cent m-o-m uptick.
In y-o-y terms,
U.S. retail sales jumped 2.3 per cent in June after an upwardly revised 2.6 per
cent climb (from +2.3 per cent)
in the previous month. This was the softest annual increase in retail sales in four
months.