U.S. retail sales rise 0.1 pct in September

Source: Xinhua | 2018-10-17

U.S. retail sales edged up 0.1 percent in September, according to a report released by U.S. Commerce Department on Monday.

The department said that the advance monthly sales for retail and food services rose 0.1 percent to 509 billion U.S. dollars in September after a similar gain in August.

The retail sales data was well below a 0.6 percent increase which most economists expected.

According to the report, auto sales surged 0.8 percent in September after a 0.5 percent drop in August, but gasoline purchase dropped 0.8 percent and sales of food services and drinking places decreased 1.8 percent.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, and other volatile items, the so-called core retail sales increased 0.5 percent last month. This indicator is also closely correlated with the consumer spending component of GDP.