Retail sales/Claims/Mfr'g/Import prices, all in one place

Core retail sales in the key holiday month of December where most of the holiday sales took place because of the late November Thanksgiving rose .7% m/o/m which was 3 tenths above the estimate and comes after a .4% rise in November. The y/o/y gain was 4.1%. Outside of the core calculation, vehicle sales rose .7% but building materials fell by 2% and down for a 3^rd straight month.

Elsewhere, furniture sales jumped by 2.3% m/o/m, clothing was up by 1.5% and the miscellaneous category spiked by 4.3% in the month but after falling by 3.9% in the month before. I’m not sure what’s driving such big moves here. Sporting goods also saw a good month with sales up by 2.6%. Electronic sales were muted, up just .4% while online retailing saw sales up by just .2% but after rising by 1.7% in November. Sales at restaurants/bars fell by .3% and is now down y/o/y. We know this has been an area of strength over the past few years but we also know now that restaurant traffic has slowed because of the higher prices relative to at home eating.

Bottom line, overall core retail sales seemingly had a good holiday but the internals were more mixed than the headline. Either way, we know the higher end consumer is carrying much of the spending weight relative to the lower end and everyone is looking for value and convenience.