June Retail Sales Below Wall Street Estimates
This story has been updated from 8:56 am ET with additional information.
NEW YORK (
) -- U.S. food and retail sales rose 0.4% in June from May to $422.8 billion, according to the latest Commerce Department figures released on Monday, below Wall Street expectations of a 0.8% rise, according to
Thomson Reuters
.
Last month's retail sales numbers were 5.7% above June 2012, the data said.
The growth largely came from autos and motor vehicle dealers, up 2.1% month over month as well as furniture and home furnishing stores, up 2.4% from May. However building material and garden supplies slumped 2.2% in June, the data said.
Excluding autos and auto service supplies, sales were flat from May 2013, below the expectation of a 0.4% rise. Sales at non-store retailers rose 13.8% from a year earlier.
Total sales for the April through June 2013 period were up 4.6% compared to the same period, a year earlier. The April to May 2013 percent change was revised lower to 0.5% growth from 0.6% growth.
"The consumer economy is improving but growth rates and retail sales will remain reserved for the foreseeable future," NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a statement. "U.S. households have adjusted their spending to a slow-growth economy. With employment and consumer confidence improving, we expect that the second half will be better than the first."
Retail stocks were mixed on Monday.
Shares of
Tiffany
(TIF) - Get Report
jumped 3.9% to $80.04 after Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the stock from hold to buy. Shares of
Vera Bradley
(VRA) - Get Report
rose 2.5% to $23.18 and teen retailer
Zumiez
(ZUMZ) - Get Report
rose 2.4% to $31.
Shares of
Gap
(GPS) - Get Report
and
Michael Kors
(KORS)
were down 0.6% and 2.5% respectively after each receiving a downgrade to neutral from overweight by Piper Jaffray.
Last week, retailers that still report monthly
posted gains in June that exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Only 11 retailers still report the once famous monthly metrics, the largest of which is
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
. Most retailers prefer quarterly metrics.
Excluding the drug stores,
Walgreens
(WAG)
and
Rite Aid
(RAD) - Get Report
, same-store sales exceeded estimates, registering 5.9% growth, up from the 4.8% estimate and 2.6% from a year earlier,
Thomson Reuters
reports said.
-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.
To contact Laurie Kulikowski, send an email to:
Laurie.Kulikowski@thestreet.com
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