Excluding autos, gasoline and building materials, sales increased by 0.2% in May, the weakest growth rate this year so far.

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Tsuga is placing big hopes on the home building materials and white goods sales in the near term and auto industry sales further out.

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Sales of building materials rose 1%.

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The homeowner's tax incentive generates new sales tax revenue on building materials, not to mention added income tax revenue on construction workers' salaries.

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Sales were also healthy at building materials and garden supply stores, as well as electronics and appliance stores.

BBC: US retail sales inch up in April

Sales of autos, furniture, building materials and other durables actually fell heavily.

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The same reporting failed to mention anywhere that October sales, excluding autos, gasoline and building materials, which everyone already knew about, were down only 0.5%, which was hardly remarkable.

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Retail sales data excludes volatile categories like autos, gas and building materials and includes discretionary purchases such as electronics, furniture and apparel.

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Core sales, which strip out cars, petrol, and building materials and correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, increased by 0.5%.

BBC: US retail sales inch up in April

Financial analysis of building material dealersDuring its quarterly conference call Monday, Home Depot said building materials and lumber were among product categories that outperformed average company comparable-store sales, according to a transcript of the call by Seeking Alpha.

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