Surging inflation lifted the dollar amount of January retail sales, while car and auto parts demand helped the headline figure to its biggest jump in ten months.
U.S. retail sales soared higher last month, data from the Commerce Department indicated Wednesday, thanks in part to car and auto component demand, while inflation pressures lifted the dollar amount of the overall total.
January retail sales rose 3.8% from the previous month to a collective $649.8 billion, the Commerce Department said, the biggest gain in nearly a year that crushed the Street consensus forecast of a 1.8% gain. The December total was revised downward to a decline of 2.5%, the Commerce Department report showed, from the original estimate of a 1.9% slide.
Stripping out the auto sector, January retail sales were up 3.3%, the Commerce Department report noted, while stand-alone sales of cars and car parts rose 5.7%.
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U.S. stock futures were little-changed following the data release, with futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicating a 25 point decline slide and the S&P 500 priced for a 6 point pullback.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields eased to 2.04% following the data release while the dollar index was marked 0.1% lower on the session at 95.874 against a basket of six global currencies.
U.S. inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in four decades last month, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated earlier this month, with underlying figures showing no signs of near-term relief for pinched American consumers.
The headline consumer price index for the month of January was estimated to have risen 7.5% from last year, up from the 7% pace in December and the fastest rate since June of 1982, powered largely by airfares and rental costs. On a monthly basis, inflation was up 0.6%, the BLS said, with both tallies topping Wall Street forecasts.
