U.S. retail sales fell in July for the first time in nine months as the boost from big tax refunds faded, suggesting that consumer spending was slowing down and prompting economists to slash their economic growth estimates for the third quarter.
The unexpected decline in retail sales reported by the Commerce Department on Friday was also payback after Amazon pulled forward its Prime Day event to June from July, with other retailers offering competing promotions. A retreat in gasoline prices also weighed on receipts at service stations.
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-retail-sales-unexpectedly-fall-july-2026-08-14/
Total US retail sales were down 0.6 percent in July from the previous month, at $763.6 billion, said the Department of Commerce.
A new US consumer sentiment survey by the University of Michigan showed confidence dropped by around eight percent in August, ending two months of gains.
The United States and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, plunging the Middle East into conflict and sending energy prices skyrocketing as Tehran retaliated by attacking Washington’s Gulf allies and snarling a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.
The war has sent inflation — already elevated from the US Federal Reserve’s long-term two-percent target — surging, and has hit American households battered by years of high prices hard.
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/us-retail-sales-weakest-over-133017202.html