US retail sales lost momentum in September and firms grappled with an uptick in business costs, government data showed Tuesday, underscoring growing concerns about affordability in the world's biggest economy.

Beyond these delayed economic figures -- indicating that consumers turned cautious towards the end of the summer -- a separate survey saw consumer confidence hitting its lowest level since April this month.

Economists warn that the softening in sales is likely to persist as President Donald Trump's tariffs add to cost increases, while the labor market weakens.

Overall retail sales picked up by 0.2 percent on a month-on-month basis, said the Commerce Department, slightly below analyst expectations and cooling from August's 0.6 percent increase.

A report by the Labor Department mea

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