Retail sales, excluding cars, rose 0.8 per cent in June from the previous month and 0.5 per cent adjusted for inflation, according to the federal reserve bank of Chicago.
The new index is based on weekly credit and debit card transaction data, mobile information and consumer confidence data and is used to forecast the government's monthly retail report. In the fourth week of June, the index fell 0.3 per cent, up 0.3 per cent the previous week.
Adjusted for inflation, the June figure was the first monthly increase since March.
