With the holiday shopping set to gear up in a few weeks, it looks like the retail sector could use a season spark based on declining retail sales in September, according to data issued by the United States Department of Commerce and the National Retail Federation (NRF).
Commerce reported that September retail sales at $442.7 billion were down 0.3 percent compared to August and up 4.3 percent compared to September 2013, and total retail sales from July through September are up 4.5 percent annually.
The NRF said that September retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants, dipped 0.1 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and increased 4.6 percent annually on an unadjusted basis.
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