Retail sales in August posted the weakest showing in two months as worried consumers curbed their spending habits, the Associated Press reports.
The Commerce Department reported that the nation’s retailers saw a tiny 0.2 percent increase last month following a much bigger 1.4 percent rise in July. It was the weakest performance since sales had actually fallen by 0.5 percent in June.
Much of the August weakness reflected a sharp slowdown in auto sales, which edged up just 0.4 percent last month after having surged by 4.3 percent in July.
In another report, the Labor Department said that the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to 308,000 last week, down by 5,000 from the previous week. The drop pushed claims to a seven-week low.
