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U.S. retail sales rise to three-month high in April

Xinhua, May 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. retail sales rose to a three-month high in April, pointing to a pickup of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter of the year, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Retail sales rose 0.4 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 474.9 billion U.S. dollars in April, following a revised 0.1 percent increase in March, the Commerce Department said.

It was the strongest sales gain in three months. Year on year, total retail sales rose 4.5 percent last month.

In April, purchases of motor vehicle and parts rose 0.7 percent and sales of building material and garden equipment increased 1.2 percent, while online retail sales climbed 1.4 percent. Excluding volatile auto sales, total retail sales were up 0.3 percent from the previous month.

As consumer spending is a major driver of U.S. economic growth, the upbeat retail sales report in April suggested a pickup of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter of the year.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, sharply lower than the 2.1 percent growth in the previous quarter and the weakest performance in three years, the Commerce Department said last month. Endi