US: Retail sales for Aug 2017 were $474.8 bln, a decrease of 0.2% from July

"Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August 2017 were $474.8 billion, a decrease of 0.2 percent from the previous month, and 3.2 percent above August 2016," the US Census Bureau announced on Friday.

Key quotes:

• Total sales for the June 2017 through August 2017 period were up 3.2 percent from the same period a year ago.
• The June 2017 to July 2017 percent change was revised from up 0.6 percent to up 0.3 percent.
• Retail trade sales were down 0.3 percent from July 2017, and up 3.3 percent from last year.
• Nonstore Retailers were up 8.4 percent (±1.6 percent) from August 2016, while Building Materials and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers were up 7.5 percent from last year.