March US retail sales data
- Prior was -3.0%
- Retail sales ex auto +8.4% vs +5.0% expected
- Retail sales ex auto and gas +8.2% vs +6.4% expected
- Retail sales control group +6.9% vs +7.2% expected
- Sales up 14.3% from the same period a year ago vs +6.3% prior
- Motor vehicle sales and parts +15.1% m/m
- Full report
Prior numbers and revisions
- February retail sales -3.0% (revised to -2.7%)
- February retail sales ex auto and gas -3.3% (revised to -3.1%)
- February retail sales control group -3.5% (revised to -3.4%)
The headline is extremely strong but some of that was baked in after a jump in new car sales in the month that should have already been priced in. The control group metric is better at stripping out some of the one-off metrics and it was a tad below consensus so that almost balances it out.
At the end of the day though, we have retail sales up almost 10% and the control group up 6.9%. That's strong any way you slice it.
Looking through the categories, there's nothing remotely negative with only food and beverage stores below 1% and that's assuredly because people resumed eating out.
