U.S. retail sales fell more than expected in July, dragged down chiefly by weak buying of automobiles as chip shortages continued to squeeze supplies. Retail and food services sales fell 1.1 percent in July, following a revised 0.7 percent gain in June and a 1.7 percent drop in May, according to an advance estimate from the Census Bureau (pdf). Consensus estimates were for the July retail sales number to drop a modest 0.3 percent. “Retail sales fell in July for the second time in three months. There are signs that pent-up demand has passed its peak,” said Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times. The category that saw the sharpest drop was sales of motor vehicles, which fell by 4.3 percent over the month in July, hampered by a global shortage of semiconductors. Online sales tumbled, as reflected in the nonstore retail sales category …