Weaker auto sales blemished an otherwise solid January for U.S. retailers, the nation's Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
The department reported that U.S. retail sales totalled $347.7 billion in January, down by 0.3 per cent from December and the key holiday shopping season (all figures in U.S. dollars).
However, if the volatile auto sector is excluded, retail sales were in fact up by a solid 0.6 per cent.
By either measure retail sales came in better than expected. According to Briefing.com, the consensus among analysts was for the headline number to be down by 0.5 per cent and sales sans autos up by only 0.4 per cent.
The Commerce Department also revised December's sales gain down slightly, to 1.1 per cent from 1.2 per cent.
Overall, the latest retail numbers paint a rosy picture for most retailers and demonstrate that many escaped the typical post-holiday slump.
The report is also the last major piece of economic data before Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan delivers his semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony on the state of the economy before Congress.
The Fed has already delivered six "measured" increases to its key interest rate over the past eight months. In modest increments of 0.25 per cent, the Fed has been removing the stimulus from the world's largest economy as the situation improves.
Key in Mr. Greenspan's testimony will be whether he gives any indication that the Fed believes the nation's economy is picking up enough steam to warrant a faster pace of interest rate hikes. Periods of economic expansion tend to foster higher inflation and raising interest rates is a central bank's primary means to keep inflation in check.
Among the retail categories to gain last month, clothing, sporting goods, general merchandise and personal care led the way.
Clothing and gasoline station sales were both up 1.8 per cent. Sales by sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores rose 0.6 per cent.
Sales of motor vehicles and parts, however, fell 3.3 per cent in January after jumping by four per cent in December. Car and truck sales were down 3.8 per cent.
Electronic and appliance sales were also down, by 0.6 per cent.
