US retail sales rise 0.5% to $665B in March

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US retail sales rose slightly in March, coming below market expectations, according to figures released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

Retail sales came in at $665.7 billion, increasing 0.5% from the previous month’s revised figure of $662.4 billion.

The market expectation for March was a 0.6% gain.

"Gasoline stations were up 37% from March 2021, while food services and drinking places were up 19.4% from last year," the Census Bureau said in a statement.

The slight gain in retail sales suggests that consumer demand is still weak in the US.

Annual consumer inflation in the US soared 8.5% in March, marking the largest 12-month increase since December 1981, according to the US Department of Labor on Tuesday.