US ex-car retail sales climb in July-SpendingPulse

NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales excluding autos rose in July, with high gasoline prices accounting for much of the growth at the expense of other goods and services, according to a private report released on Tuesday.

Consumer spending excluding cars rose 1.0 percent last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, comparable to the 1.1 percent gain in June, said SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, an arm of MasterCard Worldwide (MA.N).

"Consumers are willing to shoulder a lot of the price increases. They are focusing on the few things they actually need," said Kamalesh Rao, director of economic research at MasterCard Advisors.

Retail gasoline prices fell below $4 a gallon in late July, but were still running almost 37 percent higher than a year ago, according to SpendingPulse. [ID:nN0533752137]

Sales excluding cars and gasoline fell 0.7 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with a 0.6 percent rise in June.

Costs on other non-durable goods like food and clothes eased a bit last month. SpendingPulse's U.S. non-durables price index was down 0.8 percent in July compared with June but up 11.9 percent from a year earlier.

July's retail sales showed even more weakness when building materials were factored out along with autos and gasoline.

SpendingPulse's "core" measure on consumer spending fell 1.0 percent last month, reversing part of the 1.8 percent increase in June.

This pullback was reflected in the disappointing sales results reported by major chain-stores last week. Retailers are looking for ways to navigating through a tough climate, as their customers have been squeezed by tight credits, a housing slump and a worsening job market, analysts said. [ID:nN10496139]

Consumers spent less last month on discretionary items like clothing, for which sales fell 0.8 percent from year ago and electronics, which slid 2.9 percent from a year earlier, according to SpendingPulse.

Despite consumers' struggle, the modest year-over-year 4.0 percent increase in core sales in July was decent, said Rao. But if that figure were to fall to 2.0 percent, "then the economy is really struggling," he added.

The SpendingPulse data are derived from the aggregate sales in the MasterCard U.S. payment network, coupled with estimates on all other payment methods including cash and check.