US: Retail sales rise 0.6% in September

US retail sales rose by 0.6% in September to a seasonally adjusted $459.82 billion in September, the Commerce Department said Friday.

This reading matched analysts’ expectations and follows a decline of 0.2% in August (revised up from an initially estimated 0.3% decline) and a 0.1% increase in July.

Excluding the automotive category, retail sales rose 0.5% above 0.4% expected. Compared with a year earlier, retail sales were up 2.7% in September.