Washington (AFP) – US retail sales were virtually unchanged in July after rising in June, suggesting a key driver of the world’s largest economy had reached a plateau by midsummer.
The Commerce Department said Friday that advance estimates put retail food and services for July at $457.7 billion, the same as the previous month but up 2.3 percent year-on-year.
Analysts had expected a rise of 0.4 percent.
The figures dovetailed with data also released Friday by the Labor Department, which said producer prices had unexpectedly fallen last month by 0.4 percent.
July’s relative flatlining followed sizeable gains recorded in June, which saw consumers spend 0.6 more than they had in May and wholesale prices rise 0.5 percent.
The less-than-robust results will again add a measure of ambiguity to the mosaic of economic data consulted by US policy makers in considering whether to raise interest rates in 2016.
Inflation has remained stubbornly low and, while the labor market has been strong in recent months, overall economic growth was weak in the second quarter, making the current recovery the slowest since World War II.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.