The arrival of summer weather in June gave the nation’s retailers their strongest monthly sales growth since March 2004, retailers said on Thursday, calming concerns that energy prices were slowing consumer spending.
Overall, June sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.4 percent, ahead of expectations for a 4.8 percent increase, according to Swampscott, Mass.-based Retail Metrics. That was the biggest gain since a 6.7 percent jump in March 2004.
