US retail sales slightly increased in January

The latest survey released by the U.S. government on February 15 showed that the nation’s January retail sales were not as expected, the performance of building materials and restaurants suffered the most recession, reflecting the impact of severe weather; while import prices were driven by rising energy costs, and the increase was almost two market expectations. Times.

According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, the monthly growth rate of retail sales last month was 0.3%, which was the seventh consecutive month of growth, but the increase was the smallest in July last year, and not as good as 0.5% estimated by Bloomberg. Sales growth in December last year was also revised down from 0.6% to 0.5%. If compared with the same month of 2010, retail sales grew by 7.8% in January this year.

Apparel brands such as Gap, Limited Brands and apparel department store Macy's, were aggressively promoted last month and sales exceeded market expectations. According to Janus Montgomery Scott, an analyst with Le Bass, consumer spending is expected to grow this year, but at a very moderate rate, after all, the unemployment rate remains high.

Fed officials have pointed out that if the people are to continue to spend money with confidence, job opportunities must accelerate.

Car dealer sales grew by 0.5%, which is consistent with industry statistics. Last month, the annual sales of automobiles reached 12.54 million, which was the best result in August 2009. However, sales of construction materials declined by 2.9%, the worst since May last year. Gas station sales increased by 1.4%.

After deducting autos, gasoline and building materials, retail sales in January rose 0.4%, better than the 0.1% decline in December last year. This information is also used to calculate the basis for gross domestic product (GDP).

Restaurant performance fell by 0.7%, the largest increase since March 2009, but grocery sales grew by 1.3%, the largest increase since August last year.

In addition, according to data released by the Ministry of Labor, import prices rose by 1.5%, which was much higher than the Reuters forecast of 0.8%, mainly because gasoline prices rose by 3.4%. Non-gasoline costs increased by 1.1%, the largest increase since April 2008. Export prices rose by 1.2%, exceeding the market forecast of 0.7%, mainly due to a 3.2% increase in export prices of agricultural products.