Americans picked up their spending at retail stores in July, even as inflation accelerated for the first time in more than a year.
Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spent on a number of everyday goods, including cars, food and gasoline, rose just 0.7% in July, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That is above both the 0.4% increase projected by Refinitiv economists and the 0.2% gain recorded in June.
Excluding the more volatile measurements of gasoline and autos, sales climbed 1% last month.
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