November Retail Sales Heat Up a Little

The U.S. Census Bureau has released the retail sales report, which estimates U.S. retail and food services sales, for the month of November. The total came to $448.1 billion, an increase of 0.2% from the previous month. That came in just below the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 0.3% for November.

Total sales for the September through November 2015 period were up 1.7% from the same period in the previous year. The September to October 2015 percentage change was unrevised from 0.1%.

Retail sales less autos totaled 0.4%, which exceeded the consensus estimate of 0.3%. Also this segment was revised for the month of October, down to 0.1% from 0.2%. Retail sales less autos and gasoline totaled 0.5%, above the consensus of 0.3% and the month of October at 0.3%.
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Consumer spending has been lukewarm going into the end of the year but in part reflects low sales at gasoline stations, which are getting hurt, and continue to get hurt, by low prices. Vehicle sales have been strong, though unit sales in November, holding for a third month at a 12-year high, aren’t pointing to a monthly gain for the motor vehicle component.

Less auto and gas, core sales have shown some life, with October coming in at plus 0.3%. For November, forecasters originally saw core sales rising another 0.3% despite unseasonably warm weather that likely held down sales of winter goods.

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