After reporting a sharp jump in U.S. retail sales in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that sales unexpectedly decreased in the month of June.

The report said retail sales fell by 0.3 percent in June after surging up by a downwardly revised 1.0 percent in May.

The pullback in sales surprised economists, who had expected sales to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 1.2 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding a steep drop in auto sales, retail sales still edged down by 0.1 percent in June compared to a 0.8 percent increase in May. Ex-auto sales had been expected to climb by 0.5 percent.

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