Feb retail sales rise less than expected after Jan mark down

Reuters

Mon, Mar 17, 2025, 6:12 AM 2 min read

(Reuters) - U.S. retail income rebounded successful February, suggesting that the system continued to turn successful the archetypal quarter, though astatine a mean gait arsenic tariffs connected imports and wide firings of national authorities workers measurement connected sentiment.

Retail income roseate 0.2% past period aft a revised 1.2% diminution successful January, the Commerce Department said connected Monday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales, which are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation, advancing 0.6% aft a antecedently reported 0.9% driblet successful January.

That diminution followed hefty gains successful the 4th fourth and wintertime storms successful galore parts of the state successful January arsenic good arsenic wildfires successful California.

MARKET REACTION:

STOCKS: U.S. banal scale futures pared losses and were disconnected 0.02%, pointing to a small changed unfastened connected Wall Street

BONDS: The 10-year U.S. Treasury output roseate to 4.308% from astir 4.291% earlier the number, portion the two-year output roseate to 4.05% from 4.025% earlier the reportFOREX: The dollar scale was disconnected 0.18%, small changed, and the euro was up 0.16%

COMMENTS:

ADAM SARHAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, 50 PARK INVESTMENTS, NEW YORK

"Investors are looking for immoderate benignant of affirmative bullish catalyst successful this situation erstwhile uncertainty is truthful elevated. Any quality oregon information that is not the-end-of-the-world benignant of information is being received well.

When you look astatine retail stocks, a batch of them are beaten down hard. This full selloff began erstwhile Walmart reported net and past gapped down... tons of different retail stocks person been getting crushed... The user makes up two-thirds of the system oregon thereabouts, truthful immoderate quality that retail income oregon the user is not astir to autumn disconnected of a cliff is considered bully quality particularly successful this situation since we’re truthful oversold."

BRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ANNEX WEALTH MANAGEMENT, MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN

"The lone signs of a bounce-back successful spending from January’s weather-induced slump, and stocking up up of tariffs, was successful online spending. Sentiment is often a horrible predictor of spending, but the bully vibes that person propped up spending are present a distant memory."

PHIL BLANCATO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF LADENBURG THALMANN ASSET MANAGEMENT IN NEW YORK"I'm impressed with this number, but let's not hide March tends to beryllium a beauteous bully period for spending."On recession worries helium added "it's conscionable excessively aboriginal to tell. There are inactive excessively galore unknowns and it's hard to marque that rationale. We person an costly banal marketplace and we're astir apt looking astatine a hard twelvemonth to start."

(Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News team)