Commerce Department shows retail sales pushed by autos
August 11, 2005
According to a report released on Thursday by the US Commerce Department shows that retail sales in the US was up by 1.8 percent in July.
Nearly all of the advance came in the auto sector, where sales grew by 6.7 percent, the largest increase in that sector since October of 2001 when automobile manufacturers introduced incentive programs to keep demand up after the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
When auto sales are excluded from the data, retails sales were up only 0.3 percent on the month, just half of what analysts had expected. Outside the auto sector, sales gains were made in electronics and appliances, where sales were up by 1 percent, and at the gasoline pump, where sales increased by 2.4 percent, largely on higher prices rather than on increased volume.
Other increases were seen in music stores, sporting goods retailers, and health care stores. Declines were seen in department stores, which saw sales fall by 1 percent in July after a 1.4 percent rise in June, and in furniture stores, which saw a 1.3 percent decline in sales. L
esser declines were seen in grocery stores, hardware stores, specialty clothing stores, and in sales over the Internet.