WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. retail sales dropped 0.8 percent in January after robust growth in December amid strong holiday spending, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were 700.3 billion U.S. dollars.
Retail trade sales were down 1.1 percent from December 2023, and 0.2 percent below last year.
Nonstore retailers were up 6.4 percent from last year, while food services and drinking places were up 6.3 percent from January 2023.
Total sales for the November 2023 through January 2024 period were up 3.1 percent from the same period a year ago.
"The broad-based drop in January retail sales suggests the consumer lost some momentum at the start of the year," Tim Quinlan and Shannon Grein, economists with the Wells Fargo Securities, wrote in an analysis.
"Yet, a strong gain in food services sales implies services consumption remains sturdy and likely offset some weakness in goods consumption," they said. ■
