U.S. Retail Sales Climb More Than Expected As Auto Sales Extend Surge

(RTTNews) - Retail sales in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, with auto sales once again leading the way higher.

The report said retail sales grew by 0.7 percent in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in October.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected increase by retail sales came amid continued strength in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, which shot up by 2.6 percent in November after jumping by 1.8 percent in October.

Excluding the surge by auto sales, retail sales edged up by 0.2 percent in November, matching the revised growth in the previous month.

Ex-auto sales were expected to climb by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.1 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

The report said sales by non-store retailers jumped by 1.8 percent and sales by sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores advanced by 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said sales by miscellaneous store retailers plunged by 3.5 percent during the month.

"The above-consensus rise in sales was helped by another strong month of auto demand as vehicles damaged during recent hurricanes were replaced," said Michael Pearce, Deputy Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics. "Reconstruction efforts are giving a lift to building material sales too."

"However, the standout strength in the November report was nonstore sales," he added. "We would caution about reading too much into that, since seasonal factors can have a large effect this time of year."

Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, climbed by 0.4 percent in November after edging down by 0.1 percent in October.