Economists had expected a 0.2% gain in total retail sales and a 0.2% decline in sales ex-autos.

The decline in the ex-autos component is the worst monthly figure since December 2007.

In the previous month, total sales were revised to a 0.5% loss from a previously reported 0.1% loss, while the ex-autos figure was downwardly revised by one-tenth to a 0.3% increase.

The year-over-year rise in retail sales excluding autos is now 4.2% while the year-over-year decline in total retail sales is now 0.4%.

Excluding gas, sales were flat in the month, following a 0.6% loss in the previous month.

Gasoline store sales posted a 2.5% loss in the month, following a 0.2% advance in the prior month. Over the past year, gasoline store sales have posted a 20.6% gain.

Sales of motor vehicles and parts rose by 1.8% in the month, halting six consecutive months of declines. From one year ago, sales have fallen by 17.2%.

The advance estimates are based on a subsample of the Census Bureau's full retail and food services sample. A stratified random sampling method is used to select approximately 5,000 retail and food services firms, whose sales are then weighted and benchmarked to represent the complete universe of over three million retail and food services firms.

By Patrick McGee, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Nancy Girgis, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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