Non-Auto Retail Sales Top Forecasts

U.S. retail sales, with the exception of volatile car and truck sales, showed an unexpectedly strong gain in January, the government said Thursday, as shoppers loaded up on food and clothing.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week by 6,000 to 363,000, confounding analysts, who had predicted an improving job market and expected a dip to 345,000 new claims.

The Commerce Department said total retail sales -- a major component of U.S. consumer spending -- fell 0.3% to $322.9 billion in January from December. It was the first decline since September.

However, excluding autos, retail sales rose a bigger-than-expected 0.9% from the previous month.

“All told, the report was a favorable one for consumer activity. The drop in vehicle sales was disappointing, but such volatility is common for this area. Sales elsewhere were generally strong,” Mike Moran, chief economist with Daiwa Securities America Inc., said in a research note.

Wall Street had expected a more robust showing for overall spending. Analysts had forecast a flat reading on overall sales and a 0.5% increase for sales without autos.

Autos were the main factor in bringing down overall sales, but weakness also was seen in other categories. Motor vehicle sales dipped a sharp 3.9% in January, their steepest decline since February 2003. Purchases of furniture and building materials fell 0.9%.

But economists focused on the retail report’s strength outside of autos, suspecting that bitterly cold weather in January depressed total sales.

Buoyed by the cold weather, clothing sales gained 2.9%, their biggest gain since October 2002. Sales at grocery stores rose 1.8%.

In another report Thursday, the Commerce Department said business inventories grew 0.3% in December, their fourth straight monthly gain. The stock-to-sales ratio, a measure of how long it would take to deplete current supplies, fell to a record low of 1.34 months.