U.S. retail sales drop slightly more than anticipated in February
The Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that sales at U.S. retailers fell 0.4 percent m-o-m in February, following an upwardly revised 3.2 percent m-o-m jump (from +3.0 percent m-o-m) in January.
Economists had forecast total sales would decrease 0.3 percent m-o-m in February.
According to the report, the February drop in total retail sales was due to declines in 8 of all 13 retail categories, led by furniture and home furnishings stores (-2.5 percent m-o-m), food services and drinking places (-2.2 percent m-o-m), motor vehicle and parts dealers (-1.8 percent m-o-m), and miscellaneous store retailers (-1.8 percent m-o-m). In contrast, and nonstore retailers (+1.6 percent m-o-m) and health and personal care stores (0.9 percent m-o-m) posted the largest gains in retail sales in February.
Excluding auto, retail sales slipped 0.1 percent m-o-m in February after an upwardly revised 2.4 percent m-o-m surge (from +2.3 percent m-o-m) in the previous month, being in line with economists’ prediction of a 0.1 percent m-o-m decrease.
Meanwhile, closely watched core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials, and food services, and are used in GDP calculations, rose 0.5 percent m-o-m in February after an upwardly revised 2.3 percent m-o-m soar in January (originally a 1.7 percent m-o-m increase).
In y-o-y terms, U.S. retail sales climbed 5.4 percent in February after an upwardly revised 7.7 percent surge (from +6.4 percent) in the previous month. That marked the softest annual increase since December 2020 (+3.2 percent y-o-y).