by Calculated Risk on 4/14/2014 08:48:00 AM
Monday, April 14, 2014
Retail Sales increased 1.1% in March
On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 1.1% from February to March (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 3.8% from March 2013. Sales in February were revised up from a 0.3% increase to a 0.7% increase. From the Census Bureau report:
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $433.9 billion, an increase of 1.1 percent from the previous month, and 3.8 percent above March 2013. ... The January 2014 to February 2014 percent change was revised from +0.3 percent to +0.7 percent
![Retail Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsl_tUHWTPSpd_d2aZfAE5otPTxvno8EacHgh9kXHWN_w_Dc9Fw6EFs6eVw5uf0iUFWKB60RW6E7p7BnSsb6oRrC9K7S3zDSP7H8tgIwE5undV3xJOBeg5mnan_SykGp_KJwzr/s320/RetailMar2014.jpg)
This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline).
Retail sales ex-autos increased 0.7%.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993.
![Year-over-year change in Retail Sales](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluUUL62vqNptGLOT4DTzsGcn_-QNIWp_kTzcbXcoiQFUSiAMV0LWxQTEnOO6ko7k1Ua6oMN4MIkcMz3Q2g8yklwiNON2OaYUcDyeCbw6uwWpGyHTVgJ-Ch5UXYoTbyOzc2agH/s320/RetailYoYMar2014.jpg)
The increase in March was above consensus expectations and this was a strong report.