US retail sales miss forecasts in March, but underlying measure at eight-month high

Retail sales in the US fell short of forecasts for March, although some economists were wary about reading too much into the data.

Total US retail sales volumes fell by 0.2% month-on-month to $470.8bn, according to the Department of Commerce, and were 5.2% higher in comparison to a year ago.

That was modestly less than the unchanged monthly reading which economists had projected.

However, February´s preliminary reading showing a gain of 0.1% was revised down to show a 0.2% drop too.

Yet economists at Capital Economics highlighted how the so-called control group of retail sales, which excludes autos, gas and building materials revealed growth of 0.5% month-on-month.

Although here as well February's 0.1% rise was marked down to a fall of 0.2% following revisions.

Hence, consumption in the US was flat during the first quarte, the research shop said; but in terms of quarterly rates of change it ran at 4.1% in March - its fastest clip in eight months.

That led Capital Economics chief economist Paul Ashworth to write: "The death of the US consumer is much exaggerated".

For his part, Ian Sheperdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "These data are impossible to square with the stratospheric levels of consumer confidence recorded across an array of surveys, suggesting either that spending will accelerate markedly in Q2 and/or confidence will decline. We expect a bit of both."