Updated: 17-Mar-25 09:18 ET

February Retail Sales

Updated: 17-Mar-25 09:18 ET

Highlights

• Retail sales increased 0.2% month-over-month in February (Briefing.com consensus 0.7%) following a downwardly revised 1.2% decline (from -0.9%) in January.
• Excluding autos, retail sales were up 0.3% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) following a 0.6% decline (from -0.4%) in January.

Key Factors

• Motor vehicles and parts dealers sales decreased 0.4% month-over-month following a 3.7% decline in January.
• Gasoline station sales dropped 1.0% month-over-month following a 1.3% increase in January.
• Food and beverage store sales rose 0.4% month-over-month following a 0.1% decline in January.
• Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers sales increased 0.2% month-over-month following a 1.9% decline in January.
• Clothing and clothing accessories store sales fell 0.6% month-over-month following a 0.7% decline in January.
• Furniture and home furnishing store sales were flat month-over-month following a 1.2% decline in January.
• Nonstore retailer sales jumped 2.4% month-over-month following a 2.4% decline in January.
• Food services and drinking places sales fell 1.5% month-over-month after being flat in January.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that control group retail sales, which exclude auto, gasoline station, building materials, and food services sales, jumped 1.0% month-over-month following a downwardly revised 1.0% decline (from -0.8%) in January.

Category	FEB	JAN	DEC	NOV	OCT
Retail Sales	0.2%	-1.2%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%
Excluding Autos	0.3%	-0.6%	0.6%	0.1%	0.2%
Durable goods
Building Materials	0.2%	-1.9%	-1.3%	-0.7%	-0.3%
Autos/parts	-0.4%	-3.7%	1.3%	3.1%	2.2%
Furniture	0.0%	-1.2%	2.1%	0.9%	0.6%
Nondurable goods
General Merchandise	0.2%	0.5%	0.5%	0.1%	0.1%
Food	0.4%	-0.1%	0.9%	-0.1%	0.3%
Gasoline stations	-1.0%	1.3%	2.0%	0.2%	0.2%
Clothing	-0.6%	-0.7%	1.2%	-0.6%	1.1%
e*retailing/non-store	2.4%	-2.4%	0.5%	0.4%	0.0%