U.S. retail sales growth slows

American consumers slowed the pace of their spending spree in April, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

After a busy March, the growth in retail sales slowed sharply, it said, to a rate of 0.4 per cent.

That was still better than the 0.2 per cent increase many economists had expected but far below the 2.1 per cent surge in March.

Retail sales have increased in each of the last seven months. Consumer spending is 70 per cent of the U.S. economy.

Activity was strongest at hardware stores, where spending was up by 6.9 per cent, followed by health and beauty shops, and gasoline service stations.

Auto sales managed a small 0.5 per cent advance, much lower than the 6.7 per cent surge in the previous month.

Shoppers had rushed in March to take advantage of attractive sales incentives that were first offered by Toyota Motor Corp. in an attempt to counter adverse publicity from its safety recalls.

Most other categories had either declines or smaller increases than in March, a month when shopping activity had been boosted by an earlier-than-usual Easter.