Updated: 06-Mar-26 09:30 ET
| January Retail Sales |
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| Updated: 06-Mar-26 09:30 ET |
Highlights
- Total retail sales were down 0.2% month-over-month in January (Briefing.com consensus: -0.1%) following an unchanged reading for December.
- Excluding autos, retail sales were flat (Briefing.com consensus: 0.2%) for the second straight month.
Key Factors
- Motor vehicle and parts dealer sales fell 0.9% following a 0.2% decline in December.
- Gasoline station sales decreased 2.9% following a 0.1% decline in December.
- Clothing and clothing accessories store sales dropped 1.7% following a 0.7% decline in December.
- Nonstore retailer sales were up 1.9% after increasing 0.2% in December.
- Food services and drinking places sales fell 0.2% following a 0.2% decline in December.
- Furniture and home furnishing store sales rose 0.7% following a 1.5% decline in December.
- Electronics and appliance store sales decreased 0.6% following a 0.1% decline in December.
- Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealer sales jumped 0.6% following a 1.2% increase in December.
Big Picture
- The key takeaway from the report is that sales activity was disrupted by the winter storms, so the result isn't as disappointing as it looks, which comes through in the fact that nonstore retailer sales were up a robust 1.9% month-over-month.
| Category | JAN | DEC | NOV | OCT | SEP |
| Retail Sales | -0.2% | 0.0% | 0.5% | -0.2% | 0.1% |
| Excluding Autos | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Durable goods | |||||
| Building Materials | 0.6% | 1.2% | 1.4% | -0.7% | 0.0% |
| Autos/parts | -0.9% | -0.2% | 0.9% | -1.5% | 0.0% |
| Furniture | 0.7% | -1.5% | -0.1% | 1.4% | -2.4% |
| Nondurable goods | |||||
| General Merchandise | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| Food | 0.2% | 0.3% | -0.3% | 0.0% | -0.2% |
| Gasoline stations | -2.9% | -0.1% | 1.3% | -1.4% | 2.0% |
| Clothing | -1.7% | -0.7% | 0.3% | 1.4% | -0.8% |
| e*retailing/non-store | 1.9% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.7% | -0.7% |
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