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US retail sales rebound strongly in January

World

15-02-2023 | 10:26

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US retail sales rebound strongly in January

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US retail sales rebounded sharply in January after two straight monthly declines, driven by purchases of motor vehicles and other goods, pointing to the economy's continued resilience despite higher borrowing costs.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that retail sales surged 3.0 percent last month. Data for December was unrevised to show sales dropping 1.1 percent as previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales would increase 1.8 percent, with estimates ranging from 0.5 percent to 3.0 percent. Some cautioned against reading too much into the jump in retail sales.

The drop in sales in the prior two months was blamed on the front-loading of holiday shopping, which economists said had not been fully adjusted for by the model that the government uses to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data.

The so-called seasonal adjustment factors likely flattered retail sales in January. The blowout job growth in January was partially attributed to seasonal adjustment factors.

"The bottom line is that the underlying trend in consumption is not as weak as the December numbers indicated, but is also not as strong as the January numbers might suggest," said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP.

Retail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation. They were also lifted by higher gasoline prices, which inflated receipts at service stations. But even accounting for the technical distortions, Americans are still spending.

US

Retail

Sales

Rebound

Strongly

ICAP

Consumption

Inflation

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