U.S. retail sales fell more than expected in July, dragged down chiefly by weak buying of automobiles as chip shortages continued to squeeze supplies.
Retail and food services sales fell 1.1 percent in July, following a revised 0.7 percent gain in June and a 1.7 percent drop in May, according to an advance estimate from the Census Bureau (pdf). Consensus estimates were for the July retail sales number to drop a modest 0.3 percent.
