Retail sales across the United States were flat last month, weighed down by rising gasoline prices and slight drops in sales of general merchandise and big-ticket items such as electronics and appliances, the U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday in its initial estimate for April.
The results came in below the expectations of analysts polled by Yahoo Finance, who were expecting a gain of 0.2 percent.
Excluding the automobile sector, retail sales gained just 0.1 percent, the bureau said. That was also below the expectations of analysts, who forecasted a gain of 0.4 percent.
In March, retail sales totaled about $436.78 billion, a healthy jump from February’s total of $431.92 billion. The advance estimate for April pegged sales for that month at $436.77 billion.
Retail sales are a key indicator of the health of consumer spending, widely viewed as the chief engine of the nation’s economy.
