US Retail Sales Rise More Than Expected In September

U.S. consumer spending last month rose more than most economists expected on rising demand for cars and gasoline, the Census Bureau said Monday.

Retail and service sales climbed $412.90 billion in September, a 1.1 percent gain from the previous month that topped the 0.7 percent increase a Dow Jones Newswire survey of analysts expected. Retail trade sales climbed 1.2 percent from August, while purchases of cars jumped 9.3 percent.

For the third quarter, total sales rose 4.8 percent from the same period a year earlier, the Census Bureau said.