WASHINGTON - US retail sales bounced back in June, exceeding analysts' expectations on an uptick in auto sales, as consumer patterns fluctuated this year while households eyed President Donald Trump's wide-ranging tariffs.
Overall sales climbed 0.6 percent last month to $720.1-billion, reversing the 0.9 percent decline in May, data from the Department of Commerce showed.
This was well above a 0.2 percent increase expected in a consensus forecast by Briefing.com, and total sales were up 3.9 percent from a year ago.
But there are signs that sweeping tariffs may be taking hold in the world's biggest economy.
Motor vehicle and parts dealers saw sales advance 1.2 percent between May and June, the report on Thursday showed.
Overall sales were up by a slightly slower 0.5 percent excluding autos, and Pantheon Macroeconomics' senior US economist Oliver Allen warned that "sales volumes were likely soft, given rising prices due to the tariffs."
Sales at furnishing and appliance stores declined slightly in the month, while spending also fell at department stores -- all segments that are seen as more exposed to price increases due to tariffs.
"Spending on import-intensive goods seem to be struggling, with sales of furniture and home furnishings stores falling by 0.1 percent in June," Allen said.
Given Pantheon's expectations that more tariff-related cost increases will be passed on to consumers in the third quarter this year, this situation "seems to point, at best, to continued stagnation in real spending on goods this quarter," he said.
In June, consumers continued spending at restaurants and bars, with sales at these places up 0.6 percent on a month-on-month basis.