US retail and food services sales increased by 1.2 percent in July, the Census Bureau said in a statement on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) US retail and food services sales increased by 1.2 percent in July, the Census Bureau said in a statement on Friday.
"Advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for July 2020, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $536.0 billion, an increase of 1.2 percent from the previous month," the statement said.
Economists surveyed by US media had expected a 1.9 percent growth in retail sales for July, but additional restrictive measures in some US states in response to the increase in novel coronavirus cases have taken a toll on spending last month.
The US economy shrank 5 percent in the first three months of 2020 and nearly 33 percent in the second quarter to hand the United States its worst recession in history as most of the 50 states in the country went into lockdown and imposed other restrictive measures to stem the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
