US retail sales fell 0.1% in July as consumers cut back on big purchases such as cars and trucks.
The US Commerce Department's monthly snapshot showed that US consumers cut spending as a housing slump, a credit crunch and high oil prices continued to hit the US economy.
Sales declined by the biggest margin since February. Most analysts had predicted a drop in sales.
Excluding motor sales, sales rose 0.4% in July showing that lower car and truck sales weighed down overall retail sales.
However, the US government has revised June retail sales slightly higher to show a gain of 0.3% compared with an original tally of 0.1%. Excluding motors, June sales were revised to a gain of 0.9% from an initial estimate of 0.8%.
July's retail sales numbers are likely to bolster the outlook of some economists who say the world's largest economy is slowing and is likely to post lacklustre growth in future months.
