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US: Retail sales increased 0.2% in January following December's decline of 1.6%

According to the data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, retail sales in January rose by 0.2% following December's 1.6% contraction and surpassed the market expectation of for a no-change.

Key takeaways from the press release

  • Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January 2019 were $504.4 billion, an increase of 0.2 percent from the previous month, and 2.3 percent above January 2018.
  • Total sales for the November 2018 through January 2019 period were up 2.6 percent from the same period a year ago.
  • The November 2018 to December 2018 percent change was revised from down 1.2 percent to down 1.6 percent.
  • Retail trade sales were up 0.2 percent from December 2018, and 1.9 percent above last year.

Author

Eren Sengezer

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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