By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. retail sales were flat in nominal terms in September, below expectations and again highlighting the pressure on consumer spending power from high inflation.
However, core retail sales, which strip out some of the more volatile elements of the consumer shopping basket, edged up 0.1%, slightly better than forecast, in an overall mixed report.
The numbers come a day after consumer price inflation data showing that prices rose 0.4% in the same month. That suggests that sales volumes - as opposed to values - fell again in September.