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Holiday Retail Shopping Ends on Lackluster Note
Sales Were Flat in December on Prices, Job Worries
NEW YORK — Shoppers pulled back the pace of their spending in December from November, closing out the holiday shopping season and the year on a lackluster tone.
The report, issued by the Commerce Department on Feb. 10, raised questions about shoppers’ ability to spend this year as they worry about aÌýslowing job marketÌýand uncertainty around President Donald Trump’sÌýtariffsÌýand their impact on prices.
Retail sales were flat in December from November, when business was up 0.6%, according to the Commerce Department. Economists were expecting a 0.4% increase for December.
The report delayed more than a month because of the 43-day government shutdown.
Sales in October fell 0.1%, rose 0.1% in September, but jumped 0.6% in July and August and 1% in June, according to the Commerce Department.
The retail sales figures, which are not adjusted for inflation, showed that many types of businesses including furniture and home furnishings stores as well as electronics and appliance retailers posted declines.
US retail sales unexpectedly stalled in December coming in unchanged. Eight out of 13 retail categories saw decreases during the holiday season.
Invesco's Kristina Campmany says consumers are on edge and being more selective — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV)
Among the few bright spots: building materials and garden stores, which had a small sales increase.
The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn’t include many services, including travel and hotel lodges. But the lone services category —restaurants —Ìýregistered a dip of 0.1%.
Economists will be closely monitoring a slew of economic reports on jobs and prices due out later this week.
But the economy is in a confusing place.
Growth is robust: Gross domestic product —Ìýthe nation’s output of goods and services — advancedÌýfrom July through September at the fastest pace in two years. But the job market is lackluster: Employers have added just 28,000 jobs a month since December.
In the 2021-2023 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, by contrast, they were creating 400,000 jobs a month.
When the agency releases hiring and unemployment numbers for January on Feb. 11, they are expected to show that businesses, government agencies and nonprofits added about 80,000 jobs last month — modest but up from 50,000 in December.
Transport Topics reporters Eugene Mulero and Keiron Greenhalgh examine the critical trends that will define freight transportation in the year ahead.ÌýTune in above or by going to .ÌýÌý
Analysts will also be studying consumer price report, to be released Feb. 13. In December, consumer prices matched the 0.3% increase in November. If inflation cools in the coming months, it could increase the likelihood the Federal Reserve will reduce its key interest rate later this year, economists say.
Against this backdrop, some chains like Walmart, whose everyday low prices have pulled in shoppers from rivals, are thriving but others struggle.
A growing number of retailers are closing stores as companies reorganize under bankruptcy protection or pare down their operations to focus on profitable operations.
