Retail and food-service sales rise 0.3%

WASHINGTON – U.S. retail and food-service sales in August rose 0.3 percent compared with July to $377.6 billion, or 3.7 percent above their August 2006 level, according to a report today from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Retail trade sales also rose 0.3 percent month-over-month, after increasing a revised 0.5 percent in July. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey had predicted August increase of 0.5 percent

Excluding automobiles, gasoline and building materials, sales rose 0.1 percent – their smallest increase since April – after rising 0.8 percent in July. Auto dealerships and part stores saw month-over-month gains of 2.8 percent, while service-stations saw a 2.4-percent decline as gasoline prices fell.

Compared with August 2006, total retail sales rose 3.5 percent, led by 6.9-percent increases for music and non-store retailers.

“The consumer is pulling back a bit,” Peter Kretzmer, a senior economist at Banc of America Securities LLC in New York, told Bloomberg News. “Maybe some of the issues in financial markets and housing are starting to limit the upside” in spending.

In a separate report today, the Federal Reserve said showing industrial production fell in August. (www.census.gov/retail.