Updated: 17-Mar-20 09:42 ET
| February Retail Sales |
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| Updated: 17-Mar-20 09:42 ET |
Highlights
- Total retail sales declined 0.5% m/m (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) following an upwardly revised 0.6% increase (from 0.3%) in January.
- Excluding autos, retail sales were down 0.4% m/m (Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) after an upwardly revised 0.6% increase (from 0.3%) in January.
Key Factors
- Notable sales declines were seen for motor vehicle and parts dealers (-0.9%), electronics and appliance stores (-1.4%), building materials and supplies dealers (-1.3%), clothing and accessories stores (-1.2%), and gasoline stations (-2.8%).
- Sales at food services and drinking places were down 0.5%.
- Sales at nonstore retailers rose 0.7%.
- Food and beverage store sales were flat (but will be up huge in March).
Big Picture
- The key takeaway from this report is that it reflected soft spending activity before the the coronavirus impact (and reaction) truly hit the U.S. That's not comforting knowing that the retail sales data in March is going to be absolutely awful.
| Category | FEB | JAN | DEC | NOV | OCT |
| Retail Sales | -0.5% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Excluding Autos | -0.4% | 0.6% | 0.5% | -0.2% | 0.2% |
| Durable goods | |||||
| Building Materials | -1.3% | 3.3% | 1.6% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| Autos/parts | -0.9% | 0.8% | -1.8% | 1.6% | 1.1% |
| Furniture | -0.4% | 3.2% | -1.6% | 0.0% | -0.7% |
| Nondurable goods | |||||
| General Merchandise | -0.1% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| Food | 0.0% | -0.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| Gasoline stations | -2.8% | -0.4% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 2.0% |
| Clothing | -1.2% | -1.4% | 2.8% | -0.1% | -0.2% |
| e*retailing/non-store | 0.7% | 0.2% | -0.5% | -0.4% | -0.7% |
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