Retail sales–steady as she goes

Retail sales are continuing to expand, rising 0.3% in January, which is the seventh straight increase in as many months. But not very impressive since most analyst had anticipated something along the lines of 0.5% or 0.6%.

Sales ex-autos were also up 0.3%, while core sales, which exclude gasoline stations (in order to account for swings in gas prices) and autos, rose just under 0.2%.



Weather may have played a role, while the lack of significant job creation may also be holding back gains.

But sales continue to steadily increase, as the chart above reflects. Still, the rate of acceleration in core sales has been moderating over the last three months.

Though it's worth pointing out, it's not something to be concerned with at this time. Sales are being held back by the lack of employment growth, and we’ve had a rough winter in parts of the country, which has kept some shoppers at home.

I’m confident that when employers finally react to the growing economy by beefing up staff, we’ll see more significant gains in personal income growth, which in turn should translate into renewed sales growth.

Additionally, we are not yet seeing the positive impact from the partial payroll tax holiday, which is putting extra cash into the pockets of consumers.



A more formal look at today’s report is available at Examiner.com.