Consumers were unexpectedly cautious in June, according to data released by the federal government Tuesday.
Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for June show sales fell 0.3 percent from the previous month, the Commerce Department said. Sales were $442 billion in June.
Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had expected sales to rise in June by 0.2 percent.
The government also lowered the figure for May retail sales. Previously reported as having risen a strong 1.2 percent from April, the Commerce Department amended that to 1 percent.
Nevertheless, total sales for the April-to-June period were higher by 1.7 percent than for the same period in 2014, the figures show. Also, retail sales were 1.5 percent higher in the April-to-June period than for the first three months of 2015.
