Retail Sales Up 0.9% in December

Washington, DC, January 12, 2007–Retail sales increased 0.9% in December, the best gain in five months, according to the Commerce Department.

Auto sales rose 0.3% in December. Excluding car sales, seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 1.0% in December. This was the largest gain since January.

Gasoline sales rose 3.8% in December. This was the largest increase since April. Excluding gas, retail sales increased 0.6%.

Economists were expecting a 0.7% gain for overall sales and 0.5% excluding autos.

For all of 2006, sales increased 6.0%, down from a 6.9% gain in 2005. The figures are not adjusted for inflation.

Optimism was tempered a bit by a downward revision to November. Retail sales increased a revised 0.6% in November and 0.7% excluding autos. This is down from the initial estimate of a 1% gain in overall sales and a 0.9% ex-auto gain.

The brightest spot in the report was sales at electronics stores, which rose 3% after a 5.8% gain in November.

General merchandise store sales rose 0.9%. Within that category, department store sales rose 0.2%.

Sales at leisure goods stores — such as sporting goods, music, books and hobbies — slipped 0.1%.

Clothing store sales rose 0.6% despite reports that warm weather was holding down sales of winter clothes.

Sales of food were strong. At food stores, sales increased 0.7%. Restaurant and bar sales rose 2.3%

Sales at personal care stores rose 1.2% in December after a 1.0% gain in November.

Sales at nonstore outlets, such as online stores or catalogs, rose 0.3%.
The biggest area of weakness was in sales at building materials and gardening stores, which dropped 1.1% in December after falling 0.5% in the previous month. Building material sales have fallen for five straight months.