NEW YORK — American shoppers dug in their heels in July, bad news for the stalling economy and worse for struggling retailers.

Excluding gasoline and autos, U.S. retail sales rose a meager 0.1 percent last month from June, according to figures released today by MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse. Excluding autos, sales fell — by 0.9 percent.

The tepid month-to-month increase reported by SpendingPulse for July, excluding the two volatile elements of gasoline and autos, follows a 0.5 percent decline from May to June and a 2.1 percent drop from April to May.

"It's growth, but it's pretty weak growth," said Kamalesh Rao, director of Economic Research for SpendingPulse.