5:58 pm, Thu July 16, 2020

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U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in June as consumers bought big-ticket items like motor vehicles and dined out, but a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases is chipping at the budding recovery, keeping 32 million Americans on unemployment benefits.

Economists attributed the second straight monthly increase in retail sales to the government’s additional weekly $600 checks for the unemployed, a benefit that is set to end on July 31.

The expiration of the programme will leave millions of gig workers and the self employed among others, who do not qualify for regular state unemployment insurance, without an income.