WASHINGTON: Purchases of vehicles plunged in July, sending US retail sales down sharply, as American shoppers pulled back on buying an array of goods, the government reported Tuesday.
Restaurants and bars continued to see an upswing in business as customers ventured out despite increasing cases of the Delta variant of Covid-19, and rising prices at gasoline stations also boosted sales there, the data showed.
Total sales fell a surprising 1.1 percent compared to June, a far bigger drop than analysts were expecting, as auto sales collapsed 4.3 percent, the Commerce Department reported.
Excluding all motor vehicles and parts, total retail sales fell just 0.4 percent, but sales are still 15.8 percent higher than July 2020, the report said.
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