Not as bad as expected is the new beat
-0.3% y/y
- vs. expected -3.3% y/y, prior -3.9%
m/m result is +0.8%
Spending got a boost in Feb due to households stocking up into the virus outbreak. This is becoming a bit of a repeated warning, but beware of the March data when the impact of store closures will weigh on the results.
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At the same time was wages data for February.
Labor cash earnings +1.0% y/y
- expected 0.5% y/y, prior 1.5%
Real cash earnings +0.5% y/y
- expected -1.1% y/y, prior +0.7%
