Monday morning, the U.S. Census Bureau released advance estimates of retail and food services sales for March. Sales rose 1.1% to $433.9 billion, compared with February sales, and 3.8% year over year. For the first quarter, sales rose 2.5% year over year.
Analysts were expecting a total monthly increase of 0.8% and a monthly rise of 0.4% excluding autos and auto parts.
Excluding auto and auto parts sales, retail sales in March rose 0.7% month over month and 2.6% year over year. For the quarter sales excluding autos and parts rose 1.8%.
Automobile sales in March rose 3.4%, compared with February, and 9.5% from March 2013. Building materials and garden supply sales rose 1.8% from February and 5.7% year over year. Non-store retailers (i.e., online stores) saw sales rise 1.7% over February and 7.8% year over year in March. For the first quarter, non-store sales rose 6.2% year over year.
Gasoline sales fell 1.3% compared with February and fell 3.3% compared with sales a year ago. For the quarter, gasoline sales were down 2.5% compared with the first quarter of 2013.
The rise in sales is a positive sign for the U.S. economy, but as always, the question is how long the uptick will last.
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