US retail sales slump 0.3 per cent, ending 4 months of gains
WASHINGTON — U.S. shoppers retreated in August, cutting back their spending at auto dealers, furnishers and building material stores to depress overall retail sales after four straight monthly gains.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in August, a tentative sign of caution for American consumers.
Rising incomes and job growth have trickled into consumer spending, supporting economic growth even as a strong dollar and low energy prices have hurt the U.S. industrial sector. Over the first eight months of the year, retail sales rose 2.9 per cent compared with the same period in 2015.
“The underlying fundamentals for the consumer remain quite strong,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont. “That makes August’s clunker of a report a little hard to explain.”