Sales at U.S. retailers surged in July to the highest level of 2017, aided by strong demand for new autos and Amazon’s Prime Day shopping specials.
Sales at retailers nationwide jumped 0.6% last month, the government said Tuesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.4% increase.
A mysterious decline in spending at the end of the second quarter, meanwhile, vanished after fresh government revisions based on newly incorporated sales data.