Highlights of the March US advance retail sales report. The control group excludes the volatile autos, gas and building supplies components:
- Prior control group reading was +0.3% (revised to +0.4%)
- Headline retail sales were +1.1% vs +0.9% exp (biggest rise since Sept 2012)
- Prior headline retail sales were +0.3% (revised to +0.7%)
- Ex-autos +0.7% vs +0.5% exp (biggest rise since Feb 2013)
- Prior ex-autos were +0.5% (revised to +0.4%)
The US dollar is higher across the board on the numbers. I don’t see anything between the lines to dampen the enthusiasm. If you go to 2 decimal places, the control group was +0.85%.
Largest rise in control group since Jan 2013
The best lines were furniture (+1.0%), general merchandise (+1.9%), eating & drinking (+1.1%) and non-store retailers (1.7%). Electronics were a drag at -1.6%. Sporting goods rose 0.3% but that was after an average of 2.4% in the prior two months — on ski equipment sales after all the snow, no doubt.
