US retail sales stage surprise rebound

AFP - 40 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US retail sales, a key engine of the economy, rebounded unexpectedly in January, rising 1.0 percent, after six consecutive months of decline, government data showed Thursday.

The Commerce Department's seasonally adjusted data reported the sharpest monthly percentage gain in retail and food services sales since November 2007, the last month before the world's largest economy officially entered recession.

The jump in retail sales upended analysts' consensus forecast of a decline of 0.8 percent.

On a year-over-year basis, January retail sales fell 9.7 percent from January 2008, the department said.

The Commerce Department revised its December data, showing a steeper decline of 3.0 percent instead of the 2.7 initially reported. The revision for November was more modest, to a decline of 2.4 percent from a prior estimate of 2.5 percent.

Over the November-January period, retail sales plunged 9.5 percent on an annual basis.

The surprise January rebound signaled a welcome glimmer of positive news on the US economy, in particular in the current context of falling prices: the department's data are not adjusted for price changes.

Retail sales are a key indicator of consumer spending, the driver of roughly two-thirds of all US economic activity.

In the 2008 fourth quarter, consumer spending plunged at an annual 3.5 percent rate, shaving 2.47 percentage points off gross domestic product (GDP), according to official data published in late January.

Fourth-quarter GDP contracted at a 3.8 percent rate after a 0.5 percent shrinkage in the third quarter.

Rising retail sales were seen in a broad range of categories. Gasoline stations and electronics and appliance stores both notched up 2.6 percent sales gains from December.

Dealer sales of autos and auto parts climbed 1.6 percent, clothing sales also rose 1.6 percent and grocery stores posted a 2.2 percent increase.

Reflecting the prolonged housing crisis and the winter season, sales of building material and garden equipment stores had the sharpest decline, of 3.2 percent.

Furniture and home furnishings store sales tumbled 1.3 percent.

Even excluding auto sales, which had dragged down the headline number for several months, retail sales rose 0.9 percent in January from the prior month, after plunging 3.2 percent in December.

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Yesterday still said the US stock market plunged due to unclear aids, which also implicated the rest of the world stock market..
So with today's news - "SURPRISE REBOUND" of 1%.. Will the US Stock market SOAR today, and bringing the rest of the world stock market to SOAR??

*something to ponder*...