Retail sales better than expected and I'm sure BNPL helped

Treasury yields are jumping again after core retail sales in the big holiday month of December exceeded expectations, rising by .8% m/o/m, a large 6 tenths above expectations and November was revised up by one tenth to a 5 tenths increase. Vehicle sales increased by 1.1% m/o/m and higher by 7.2% y/o/y as supply is more plentiful and incentives lift a bit. Building materials rose .4% m/o/m but after falling by one tenth last month and are down almost 6% y/o/y because of the slowdown in DIY due to the very low level of existing home sales.

Online retailing helped to drive the core rate of spend, rising by 1.5% m/o/m and 7% y/o/y. Clothing sales were strong too, rising by 1.5% m/o/m and 3.7% y/o/y. After 3 months of declines, department store sales rebounded by 3% m/o/m but are still lower by 3.8% y/o/y. Spending on restaurants and bars cooled as they were unchanged m/o/m but after a 1.7% jump in November and still up 10.8% y/o/y. Sales of food/beverages rose .2% m/o/m and 1% y/o/y and volume wise is pretty steady but moves around because of price.