Retail sales in US rose more than forecasts

According to Bloomberg. sales at U.S. retailers rose more than forecast last month in a broad advance that shows consumers delivered for the economy in the second quarter.

The 0.6 percent increase in June retail receipts exceeded the highest estimate in a Bloomberg survey and followed a 0.2 percent gain the previous month that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed Friday. So-called core sales, used to calculate gross domestic product, rose a larger-than-projected 0.5 percent for a second month.

A prolonged period of job creation and slowly improving wage gains are providing households with the means to keep spending. Consumers are key to shaping the growth path for the world's largest economy as global demand remains lackluster and threatens to damp business investment.

"The U.S. consumer is the backbone of the economic recovery," Bob Keiser, vice president of financial market research at S&P Global Market Intelligence in New York, said before the report. "We're creating jobs and we're growing wages. That's a very solid fundamental backdrop for consumption and retail sales."