US retail sales stagnate in June

Retail sales in the United States were unchanged in June, according to the Census Bureau, in line with economists' expectations.

The advance estimate of total monthly sales was $704.3bn last month, more or less flat on May's revised total of $704.5bn, which was 0.3% higher than April.

However, compared with June 2023, sales were up 2.3%, slowing from the 2.6% annual growth seen in May.

Excluding motor vehicles and parts, which reduced 2% over the month, total retail sales increased by 0.4% in June, up from 0.1% growth the month before.

One notable point of weakness were gas station sales which dropped 3.0% from the month before.