PARIS (Reuters) – Retail sales in the United States fell more sharply than expected in January from one month to the next, show data released Thursday by the Commerce Department.
These sales contracted by 0.8% last month, compared to a drop of 0.1% expected on average by economists polled by Reuters, after an increase of 0.4% in December (revised from +0.6% ).
Excluding automobiles, fuels, construction materials and catering services, they fell by 0.4%, against an increase of 0.3% anticipated, after an increase of 0.6% the previous month.
This category is closest to the component of household consumption expenditure used in the calculation of gross domestic product (GDP).
On Wall Street, index futures increased their gains after the release of retail sales statistics. They suggest an opening up 0.22% for the Dow Jones, 0.16% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 0.18% for the Nasdaq.
The dollar fell 0.32% against a basket of reference currencies.
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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