Retail sales unexpectedly rise in November as consumers keep spending

Americans picked up their spending in November ahead of the pivotal holiday season as inflation showed welcome signs of cooling. 

Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spent on a number of everyday goods including cars, food and gasoline, rose 0.3% in November, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That is above both the 0.1% decline projected by Refinitiv economists and the revised 0.2% drop recorded in October.

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