US retail sales grow by less than anticipated in February

Retail sales in the U.S. grew by less than expected last month.

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms retail sales volumes grew at a 0.6% month-on-month pace in January to reach $700.7bn.

Economists had penciled in an increase of 0.8%.

Excluding automobiles, retail sales were up by 0.3% on the month (consensus: 0.5%).

Worth noting, January's decline in retail sales was revised down from an initial estimate of -0.8% to -1.1%.

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