How to Play Retail Today

This August retail sales in the U.S. rose .9%, slightly ahead of economist's estimates. Digging into the numbers a bit reveals that the gain was driven by auto demand, and higher gas prices. Stripping these figures out and retail sales sans automobiles were less than what economists expected.

There are a couple of ways to slice this data and play current spending habits, but one thing we are seeing is that consumers are increasingly putting their dollars where they are going the furthest, and that means investors should keep a keen eye on known value offerings, like Wal-Mart (NYS: WMT) , Amazon (NAS: AMZN) , and Dollar General (NYS: DG) .

One of the best picks of this group is probably still Amazon, whose low prices and ultra convenient model resonante with all consumer groups. Whether you're looking to own Amazon itself or own one of the companies its taking sales from, understanding the company and its prospects is essential. That's why we've created this new premium report on Amazon, which runs through everything investors have to know about the company. Our report also has you covered with a full year of updates as key news hits, so click here now to get started.

The article How to Play Retail Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Austin Smith owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Costco Wholesale, and Ford. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Amazon.com, Costco Wholesale, and Ford. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.