Retail sales slipped 0.9% for the month from an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in December, worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline. Excluding autos, prices fell 0.4%, also well off the consensus forecast for a 0.3% increase, while the “control” sales group slid 0.8%. Import prices accelerated 0.3% in January, in line with expectations for the largest one-month move since April 2024.
Consumers sharply curtailed their spending in January, indicating a potential weakening in economic growth ahead, according to a Commerce Department report Friday.
Retail sales slipped 0.9% for the month from an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in December, even worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline. The sales totals are adjusted for seasonality but not inflation for a month, in which prices rose 0.5%.
Excluding autos, prices fell 0.4%, also well off the consensus forecast for a 0.3% increase. A “control” measure that strips out several nonessential categories and figures directly into calculations for gross domestic product fell 0.8% after an upwardly revised increase of