Retail Sales Rise 0.5 Percent; Core Sales Up 0.6 Percent

In January, retail sales rose 0.5 percent, following a decline of 0.1 percent in December. Prior months retail sales had been volatile as large gains had been driven by auto sales associated with the cash for clunkers program followed by the falloff after the program and then the eventual leveling off.

Sales growth in January was generally broad based. Retail sales not including the volatile autos and gasoline components rose 0.6 percent over the month. From a year prior, sales were up 4.7 percent. This is a slower pace than December’s year-over-year gain of 5.5 percent; however, this is still a strong improvement from the negative annual rate see as recently as last October. Core sales, followed a similar patter, rising 2.0 percent from a year prior, down from a 2.3 percent gain in December.

Mo./ Mo. % Change	Jan	Dec	Nov	Oct	Sep	Aug
Total Sales	0.5	-0.1	2.0	1.2	-2.0	2.4
Ex Autos and Gas	0.6	-0.3	1.1	0.1	0.6	0.4
Year/ Year % Change
Total Sales	4.7	5.5	2.7	-2.0	-6.1	-5.5
Ex Autos and Gas	2.0	2.3	0.9	-0.9	-1.7	-3.2

10.02.12 (Source: Census Bureau)