The nation's top general retailers posted weak August results because a late Labor Day delayed important sales from back-to-school shopping.

Keeping time with the nation's rocking economy, retailers posted another month of robust sales gains in June.

Inflation at the producer level climbed by half a percentage point in November, while retailers posted very strong sales in the month, the Government announced today.

By comparison, the second-largest retailer in the country, Home Depot, posted sales of $81.5 billion.

In sales, retailers posted a strong gain of 1.6 percent, while wholesalers showed a 1.9 percent increase.

Its earnings have also been rising when many other retailers have been posting flat or declining profits.

Most other retailers posted same-store sales gains of between 1 percent and 4 percent.

Most large retailers posted only modest sales gains last month, according to figures released by big chain stores.

And retailers posted excellent results on the Labor Day weekend.

The retailer could have run ads correcting the mistake or posted disclaimers in its stores, but it did not.