U.S. retail sales climb 0.5% in December - MarketWatch

U.S. retail sales climb 0.5% in December - MarketWatch

U.S. retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in December as Americans apparently shrugged off a bitter budget battle in Washington over taxes and spending. The increase in sales was the highest since September. Excluding autos, retail sales 0.3%, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected retail sales to increase by 0.2% overall and by 0.2% minus autos. Sales were also revised slightly higher for November and October. In the last month of 2012, auto sales led the way with a 1.6% increase. Sales also rose 1.4% for home-furnishing stores, 1.2% for bars and restaurants, 1.0% for apparel outlets and 0.5% for nonstore retailers such as Internet shopping giant Amazon. Sales fell 1.6% at gas stations - a good thing for consumers - as fuel prices retreated for a third straight month. Sales also declined 0.6% at stores that sell electronics and appliances. In November, retail sales were revised up a notch to a 0.4% gain from 0.3% as originally reported. The decline in sales in October - partly an effect of Hurricane Sandy - was revised up to -0.2% from -0.3%. In 2012, retail sales rose an unadjusted 5.2%, down from 7.9% in 2011 but similar to the 5.6% increase reported for 2010