Alina Selyukh

Updated at 9:13 a.m. ET

Shoppers kept buying electronics and home improvement supplies, but October proved a month when much of the retail world held its breath. Retail sales barely budged, inching up just 0.3% from September, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Rebounding from near-collapse in the spring, retail spending has improved since the summer, even topping pre-pandemic levels. In October, overall retail sales were up 5.7% compared with a year earlier.

Updated at 3:06 p.m. ET

European Union officials are accusing Amazon of breaking EU competition rules by exploiting the data the company collects from other sellers on its platform for its own benefit. These are the first formal charges against the tech and retail giant in a spate of antitrust investigations around the world.

Cheers, honking, cowbell and drum sounds and even confetti filled the air in downtown Philadelphia on Saturday as supporters of President-elect Joe Biden poured into the streets with signs reading: "The People Have Spoken," "Thank Youse" and "Philly Says: Donald Trump, You're Fired."

A reliable Democratic stronghold, Philadelphia had gripped the attention of the nation as Pennsylvania became the state that tipped the presidential election in Biden's favor on the fifth day of ballot counting.

When Diana Newcomb looks back at a retail job she had in the 1970s, it sounds bonkers. She and other 20-somethings would sit in the office of a Rhode Island department store and tally sales stubs by hand. They would note sales in a ledger, like this: five pairs of boys size 6 Levi's — sold.

"I was renting a garage apartment and living off of canned vegetables and Triscuits," she says and laughs. "You know, I thought I was being independent. I was at that point."