Updated: 10-Feb-26 09:35 ET

January Retail Sales

Updated: 10-Feb-26 09:35 ET

Highlights

• Total retail sales were unchanged month-over-month in December (Briefing.com consensus: 0.4%) following a 0.6% increase in November.
• Excluding autos, retail sales were also unchanged month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus: 0.4%) following a downwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.5%) in November.

Key Factors

• Motor vehicle and parts dealer sales fell 0.2% following a 1.2% increase in November.
• Gasoline station sales increased 0.3% following a 1.7% increase in November.
• Clothing and clothing accessories store sales dropped 0.7% following a 0.5% increase in November.
• Nonstore retailer sales were up 0.1% after being unchanged in November.
• Food services and drinking places sales slipped 0.1% following a 0.7% increase in November.
• Furniture and home furnishing store sales declined 0.9% following a 0.1% decline in November.
• Electronics and appliance store sales decreased 0.4% following a 0.1% decline in November.
• Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealer sales rose 1.2% following a 1.2% increase in November.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that spending on goods was down across most discretionary categories following some decent-sized gains in November. That will foment some concern about consumer spending fatigue at the end of last year, which of course included the holiday shopping period.

Category	DEC	NOV	OCT	SEP	AUG
Retail Sales	0.0%	0.6%	-0.2%	0.1%	0.5%
Excluding Autos	0.0%	0.4%	0.2%	0.1%	0.6%
Durable goods
Building Materials	1.2%	1.2%	-0.7%	0.0%	0.2%
Autos/parts	-0.2%	1.2%	-1.5%	0.0%	0.4%
Furniture	-0.9%	-0.1%	1.4%	-2.4%	-2.6%
Nondurable goods
General Merchandise	-0.1%	-0.1%	0.4%	0.0%	0.1%
Food	0.2%	-0.1%	0.0%	-0.2%	0.6%
Gasoline stations	0.3%	1.7%	-1.4%	2.0%	0.3%
Clothing	-0.7%	0.5%	1.4%	-0.8%	0.6%
e*retailing/non-store	0.1%	0.0%	0.7%	-0.7%	2.0%