Retail sales in America for October, excluding cars and fuel, fell by 0.08%, as consumers were somewhat reluctant to buy with the approach of the holiday season, and core retail sales, which also excludes restaurants, fell by 0.03%, according to the New Retail Sales Index released by CNBC and the US National Retail Federation.
The index, which was launched for the first time today, is a joint product of CNBC and the National Retail Federation based on data from Affinity Solutions from more than 9 billion annual credit and debit card transactions collected and representing Sales of more than 500 billion dollars.
The data differs from the Census Bureau’s retail sales report because it represents actual consumer purchases, while the Census Bureau’s report is based on survey data.
