U.S. Retail Sales Fall 0.8% Amid Steep Drop In Sales By Gas Stations
13 February 2015 - 1:51AM
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With sales by gas stations showing another substantial decrease,
the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing that
U.S. retail sales fell by more than anticipated in the month of
January.
The report said retail sales fell by 0.8 percent in January
after slumping by 0.9 percent in December. Economists had expected
sales to drop by 0.5 percent.
The continued decrease in retail sales came as falling gasoline
prices contributed to another steep drop in sales by gas
stations.
Gas station sales plummeted by 9.3 percent in January, even
steeper than the substantial 7.4 percent decrease seen in
December.
The report also showed a continued decrease in auto sales, which
fell by 1.0 percent in January after dipping by 0.5 percent in the
previous month.
Excluding autos and gasoline, retail sales actually rose by 0.2
percent in January, although that was still weaker than
expected.
Core retail sales, which also exclude building materials, edged
up by just 0.1 percent in January after falling by 0.3 percent in
December.
The modest uptick in core sales was partly due to a 2.6 percent
jump in sales by miscellaneous retailers, but the increase was
offset by a 2.6 percent slump in sales by sporting goods, hobby,
book and music stores.
Rob Carnell, chief international economist at ING, said, "Given
that low gasoline prices should be freeing up dollars for
households to spend on other goods, it does not seem that this is
unleashing much higher spending for now.
"If this continues, it might throw as little more downside risk
to the June rate hike view," Carnell added, referring to
expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates
later this year.
The Commerce Department noted that total retail sales in the
month of January were up by 3.3 percent compared to the same month
a year ago, unchanged from the annual rate of growth seen in
December.