A good month for retail sales

The latest data for the month of August shows broad-based improvement for retail sales, with particularly strong performance among building supply dealers. 

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Friday morning that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August were up 0.6% from July and up 5.0% from August 2013. 

The total number came in at $444.4 billion.

The figures are adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.

Sales of building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers, NAICS 444, improved to $27.979 billion in August, up from $27.598 billion in July. That's up 1.4% from the previous month and up 6.7% from August 2013.

Total sales for the three-month period June through August 2014 period were up 4.5% from the same period a year ago.

Auto and other motor vehicle dealers were up 9.5% from August 2013, and health and personal care stores were up 8.1% from last year.

Nonstore retail, NAICS code 454, saw sales increase 7.1% compared with the same month last year.