US retail sales increased more than expected in December as consumers stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and retailers offered discounts, keeping the economy on solid ground heading into the new year.
Retail sales rose 0.6 percent last month, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday. Data for November was unrevised to show sales rising 0.3 percent as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales gaining 0.4 percent. Retail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation.
Households have maintained a healthy pace of spending, thanks to a relatively strong labour market. Though spending has cooled from the third quarter’s brisk rate, it has been enough to keep a much-feared recession at bay.
With the Federal Reserve expected to start cutting interest rates this year, most economists are confident that the economy will avoid a downturn. The US central bank has hiked its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25 – 5.50 percent range since March 2022.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales jumped 0.8 percent last month. The so-called core retail sales measure corresponds most closely with the consumer spending component of GDP. November core sales were revised higher to show them rising 0.5 percent instead of 0.4 percent as previously reported.
Before the report, economists believed that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, topped a 2.0 percent annualised rate in the fourth quarter. Growth estimates for the overall economy are currently as high as a 2.2 percent rate. The economy grew at a 4.9 percent pace in the third quarter.
The government is scheduled to publish its first estimate of GDP growth for the October-December quarter next Thursday.
Some of the anticipated slowdown in GDP growth will likely reflect smaller inventory accumulation relative to the third quarter’s size.
By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
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