The modest retail sales gain matched economists' expectations, as a housing downturn and steep oil prices constrained consumer spending, Commerce Department data showed.
Last month's increase slowed sharply from September, when sales rose an upwardly revised 0.7 percent.
Modest Inflation
Separately, the Labor Department said prices paid at the wholesale level rose 0.1 percent, below economists' forecasts for a 0.3 percent rise and well below September's 1.1 percent advance.
Core producer prices, which strip out volatile food and energy costs, were unchanged from September. Economists had expected a 0.2 percent rise.
"This leaves the door more open for the Fed to do more cutting," said Robert Macintoch, chief economist at Eaton Vance Corp in Boston. "Inflation's not an issue and consumers continue to pull back on their activity ... If the consumer really pulls back, then you are talking about a recession."
The biggest rise in inventories at retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers was in furniture, home furnishings, electrical supplies and appliance stores, where stockpiles rose 1.3
percent in September after a 0.3 percent rise in August, the Commerce Department said.
The rise exceeded estimates from Wall Street analysts who forecast business inventories to rise 0.3 percent in September after an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in August. This was
originally reported at 0.1 percent in August.