Shoppers spending more, pushing Sept retail sales growth to three-month high

Washington

RETAIL sales climbed in September by the most in three months, showing American shoppers began to spend freely again after shying away from merchants earlier in the quarter.

The 0.6 per cent advance followed a revised 0.2 per cent decline in August, Commerce Department figures showed on Friday. So-called core sales, used to calculate gross domestic product, rose a smaller-than-projected 0.1 per cent.