Despite some indications that the economy is emerging from dark times, there were no clear-cut signs of that in retail sales numbers for August released by the United States Department of Commerce and the National Retail Federation (NRF) today.
Commerce reported that August retail sales at $426.6 billion were up 0.2 percent compared to July and up 4.7 percent compared to August 2012. Total retail sales from June through August are up 5.4 percent annually.
The NRF reported that August retail sales, which exclude autos, gas stations, and restaurants, were up 0.1 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from July and were up 3.9 percent on an unadjusted basis annually.
Source:
http://www.mmh.com/article/retail_sales_show_slow_growth_in_august_according_to_nrf_and_commerce_data
