US retail sales jump past forecasts in February
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Wednesday 16 Mar 2022
(Sharecast News) - US retail sales came in far above economists' forecasts thanks to upwards revisions to data for January.
According to the US Department of Commerce, retail sales volumes grew at a month-on-month pace of 0.3% in February to reach $658.13bn.
The rate of monthly increase was one tenth of a percentage point less than what economists had penciled-in.
However, last month's growth in retail sales was coming off a much higher base after Commerce revised January's month-on-month increase up from 3.8% to 4.9%.
Sales at gasoline stations recorded growth of 5.3% versus January, which was not a surprise given recent rises in energy inflation.
Motor vehicle and parts dealers' sales meanwhile grew by 0.8%, those of building materials and garden equipment by 0.9% and those of restaurants by 2.5%.
Versus a year ago meanwhile, total retail sales were ahead by 17.6%.
"Stepping back from the noise, the first quarter is now on course for a near-12% annualized increase in the control measure - assuming no revisions to the February numbers and unchanged m/m sales in March - a bigger increase than we previously expected," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"In Q3 and Q4 last year, control sales rose by 2.8% and 6.2%, respectively, so this is a clear acceleration. It probably cannot be sustained, but in the meantime you should expect to see upward revisions to forecasts for Q1 GDP growth."
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