WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in January, boosted by purchases of vehicles and a slew of other goods, showing the economy continues to resist the upside borrowing costs.
Figures released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday show sales rose 3.0% last month, compared with +1.8% expected on average by economists polled by Reuters after falling 1.1% in December.
Excluding automobiles, fuels, building materials and catering services, they rose 1.7% after falling 0.7% the previous month. This category is closest to the component of household consumption expenditure entering into the calculation of gross domestic product (GDP).
The drop in sales in November and December was attributed to households starting their holiday shopping earlier, which economists say was not fully corrected by the model used by the government.
“In summary, the underlying trend in consumption is not as weak as the December numbers indicated, but neither is it as strong as the January numbers might suggest,” said Lou Crandall. , chief economist at Wrightson ICAP, before the statistic was released.
(Lucia Mutikani, Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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