Updated: 16-Apr-25 09:21 ET
| March Retail Sales |
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| Updated: 16-Apr-25 09:21 ET |
Highlights
- Total retail sales increased 1.4% month-over-month in March (Briefing.com consensus 1.3%) following an unrevised 0.2% increase in February.
- Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) following an upwardly revised 0.7% increase (from 0.3%) in February.
Key Factors
- Motor vehicles and parts dealers sales surged 5.3% month-over-month following a 1.6% decline in February.
- Gasoline station sales dropped 2.5% month-over-month following a 0.8% increase in February.
- Electronics and appliance store sales increased 0.8% month-over-month following a 0.5% increase in February.
- Food and beverage store sales rose 0.2% month-over-month following a 0.2% increase in February.
- Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers sales increased 3.3% month-over-month following a 0.4% decline in February.
- Clothing and clothing accessories store sales jumped 0.4% month-over-month following a 0.2% decline in February.
- Furniture and home furnishing store sales dropped 0.7% month-over-month following a 0.8% increase in February.
- Nonstore retailer sales rose 0.1% month-over-month following a 3.2% increase in February.
Big Picture
- The complicated element -- and key takeaway from the report -- is that the strength has a lot to do ostensibly with getting ahead of the tariff actions, which is to say the strength may not be sustained. If there is a counterargument to that point, it is that sales at food services and drinking places were up a robust 1.8% in March after declining 0.8% in February.
| Category | MAR | FEB | JAN | DEC | NOV |
| Retail Sales | 1.4% | 0.2% | -1.2% | 0.7% | 0.7% |
| Excluding Autos | 0.5% | 0.7% | -0.4% | 0.6% | 0.1% |
| Durable goods | |||||
| Building Materials | 3.3% | -0.4% | -1.3% | -1.3% | -0.7% |
| Autos/parts | 5.3% | -1.6% | -3.4% | 1.3% | 3.1% |
| Furniture | -0.7% | 0.8% | -1.1% | 2.1% | 0.9% |
| Nondurable goods | |||||
| General Merchandise | 0.6% | 0.0% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 0.1% |
| Food | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.9% | -0.1% |
| Gasoline stations | -2.5% | -0.8% | 1.0% | 2.0% | 0.2% |
| Clothing | 0.4% | -0.2% | -0.3% | 1.2% | -0.6% |
| e*retailing/non-store | 0.1% | 3.2% | -2.3% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
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