U.S. retail sales up 1.0 pct in June amid surging inflation

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. retail sales rose by 1.0 percent in June amid surging inflation, after dropping by a revised 0.1 percent in previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday in a report.

Retail sales, which aren't adjusted for inflation, totaled 680.6 billion U.S. dollars in June, according to the report. Total sales for the April through June period were up 8.1 percent from a year ago.

The report showed that the April to May change was revised from down 0.3 percent to down 0.1 percent. April's retail sales were up 0.7 percent.

Retail trade sales in June were up 1.0 percent from May, and up 7.7 percent above last year, the report showed. Gasoline stations were up 49.1 percent from June 2021, while food services and drinking places were up 13.4 percent from last year.

"The June retail sales report shows that consumers are still spending more but getting less," Tim Quinlan and Shannon Seery, economists at Wells Fargo Securities, wrote in an analysis.

"A broad advance in spending across many store types says as much about higher costs as it does about consumer demand," Quinlan and Seery said, noting that the staying power of consumer goods spending is "waning."

Retail sales grew as Americans grapple with the worst inflation in decades. U.S. consumer price index (CPI) in June surged 9.1 percent from a year ago, hitting a fresh four-decade high, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Consumer sentiment was relatively unchanged, remaining near all-time lows, with nearly half of consumers blaming inflation for eroding their living standards, according to the University of Michigan.

In a separate analysis, Wells Fargo economists said signals of a U.S. slowdown are starting to flash across sectors.

"Business and consumer sentiment has faltered, real consumer spending has weakened, housing activity has stalled and business investment is downshifting in response," according to the analysis.

"That said, robust employment growth and solid gross domestic income suggest we are not in the hole just yet," it added.