Retail sales climbed 0.2% month-over-month in July, slightly below expectations for a 0.3% rise.
June's headline number was revised up to reflect a 0.6% rise.
Retail sales ex-auto beat expectations rising 0.5% on the month, above expectations for a 0.4% rise. Last month's number was revised modestly to show a 0.1% rise.
Ex-auto and gas, retail sales are were up 0.4% in line with expectations.
Joseph Brusuelas, senior economist at Bloomberg points out that the control retail sales group stayed flat at 2.3% on the year.
Control retail sales group, which feeds into calculation of GDP 3mo avg held steady at 2.3% down from 4.2% in Feb'13. #EcoBrief
— Joseph Brusuelas (@joebrusuelas) August 13, 2013
Investors track this number to better gauge consumer spending which is said to account for 70 percent of GDP, though some argue its much lower.
David Rosenberg has said the American consumer needs to grab the torch for the U.S. to move to the next stage of the recovery, without this he said the economy will stagnate.
Here's a look at the monthly rise in retail sales:
U.S. Census Bureau
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