US January 2021 retail sales data:
- Prior was -0.7% (revised to -1.0%)
- retail sales ex auto +5.9% vs +1.0% expected
- retail sales ex auto and gas +6.1% vs +0.8% expected
- retail sales control group +6.0% vs +1.0% expected
Prior numbers and revisions
- December retail sales ex auto revised to -1.8% from -1.4%
- November retail sales ex auto and gas revised to -2.5% from -2.1%
- November retail sales control group revised to -2.4% from -1.9%
Huge beats on retail sales. Those stimulus checks work. There are some minor negative revisions to the prior but they're eclipsed by the big beats on the headline.
What does that mean for stimulus prospects? What does it mean for growth/inflation when those $1400 checks come? How does the Fed react to that?
The dollar likes it but there's a bit of 'good-news-is-bad-news' on the equity front.
Digging deeper into the report, total US retail sales for the Nov-Jan period were up 4.6% from the same period a year ago.
