US retail sales slowed in September as investors got the first official glimpse of consumer spending in two months on Tuesday morning after the government shutdown halted a wide swath of economic data.
Headline retail sales climbed 0.2% in September, below economists' expectations of a 0.4% month-over-month increase. By comparison, sales rose 0.6% in August, according to Census Bureau data.
The control group, which excludes several volatile categories and factors into the gross domestic product (GDP) reading for the quarter, decreased 0.1% following a 0.6% gain in August. Economists polled b