US retail sales jump past forecasts in February

US retail sales came in far above economists' forecasts thanks to upwards revisions to data for January.

According to the US Department of Commerce, retail sales volumes grew at a month-on-month pace of 0.3% in February to reach $658.13bn.

The rate of monthly increase was one tenth of a percentage point less than what economists had penciled-in.

However, last month's growth in retail sales was coming off a much higher base after Commerce revised January's month-on-month increase up from 3.8% to 4.9%.

Sales at gasoline stations recorded growth of 5.3% versus January, which was not a surprise given recent rises in energy inflation.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers' sales meanwhile grew by 0.8%, those of building materials and garden equipment by 0.9% and those of restaurants by 2.5%.

Versus a year ago meanwhile, total retail sales were ahead by 17.6%.

"Stepping back from the noise, the first quarter is now on course for a near-12% annualized increase in the control measure - assuming no revisions to the February numbers and unchanged m/m sales in March - a bigger increase than we previously expected," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"In Q3 and Q4 last year, control sales rose by 2.8% and 6.2%, respectively, so this is a clear acceleration. It probably cannot be sustained, but in the meantime you should expect to see upward revisions to forecasts for Q1 GDP growth."