Shoppers paused their spending in June from May but defied economic forecasts for a pullback, proving their resilience in the face of an uncertain economy.
Retail sales were unchanged in June from May, after being revised upward to a 0.3% increase in May, according to the Commerce Department report Tuesday. Last month, April sales were revised downward—a 0.2% decline, from unchanged. Sales rose 0.6% in March and 0.9% in February. That comes after sales fell 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather.
Sales at gas stations and auto dealerships weighed down the figure. Excluding gas prices and auto sales, retail sales rose 0.8%. Sales at gas stations were down 0.3%, while business at auto stores fell 0.2%, as dealerships were disrupted by a multiday outage after cyberattacks on a software supplier.
The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn’t include many services, including travel and hotel lodges. But the lone services category—restaurants—registered an uptick of 0.3%.
