Retail sales rose in July as attractive incentives lured shoppers back to auto showrooms. The previous month’s sharp drop was revised to show a more modest decline.

Separate reports showed that import prices rose last month, while weekly jobless claims slipped to their lowest level in over a month. Businesses boosted inventories in June, marking the biggest gain in four years.

Retail sales rose 0.7% last month, the Commerce Department reported. June sales were revised to a 0.5% drop from the initial estimate of a 1.1% decline.

A 2.4% gain in demand for motor vehicles and parts helped push up overall retail sales. Without the auto component, retail sales would have gone up only 0.2%, after an advance of 0.3% a month earlier.

Economists had expected bigger increases of 1% and 0.3%, for overall retail sales and sales excluding autos, respectively.

In a separate release, the U.S. Labor Department reported that import prices rose 0.2% in July after a 0.1% decline in June. The increase, which was lower than expected, mainly reflected rising energy prices, which climbed 0.9% after declining by exactly that proportion in June.

Meanwhile, U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 last week to 333,000, marking the lowest level since the week of July 3, according to a separate report from the Labor Department. The four-week average declined for the first time in three weeks, falling by 4,250 claims to 339,250. Economists had expected claims to increase by 4,000.

Businesses inventories rose 0.9% in June to a seasonally adjusted $1.234 trillion, after a revised 0.7% advance in May, the Commerce Department said. The June increase was the largest since June 2000 and largely reflected the meager 0.1% increase in sales as consumer spending dropped off during the month.