Retail sales continue to grow at a very sluggish pace   

Seasonally adjusted real retail sales increased slightly in June to $172.9 billion from $172.3 billion in May. (Note that actual sales are deflated using CPI 1982-84=100.) Year-over-year growth was 4.5%, the fourth month in a row under 5%. From peak (Sep '07) to current, retail sales are off 4.1%, a much smaller percentage decline than what has occurred in the housing and auto markets. June sales were 10.5% higher than the trough (Mar '09) of the recent recession. Real retail sales have only recovered to the levels of early 2005, which is not much of a recovery. The vertical bars in the graph represent recessions.