United States – June retail results have showed a small growth in sales but for most retailers it was lower than expected. Retail giants, Macy’s and Nordstrom posted better than expected results, which would appear to be the exception to the rule. Nordstrom had sales growth over the same time last year of 14.1% which was well over estimates of 9.6%. Macy’s sales grew by 6.5% compared to estimates of 6.1%. Department stores appeared to fare the best over the month, with people using them to cash in on back-to-school discounts.Retail sales on the whole were up 3.1% in June, which was slightly below expectations. Traditionally June sales are slow leading into new products for the fall season. The sales decline is attributed to the housing and labour markets which are currently struggling. The teenage orientated retail market had mixed results, with the overall market up by 3.7%. But in contrast Abercrombie & Fitch had 9% growth whilst Buckle had a 7.3% sales decline. One train of thought as to why these variations occurred, was due to the hot weather experienced in June, which in turn drove people to larger department stores and shopping malls where these stores experienced larger than expected growth.