WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans bought more clothes in
December, shopped more frequently online and ate out more often,
providing a boost to economic growth at the end of the year. But sales
at most traditional stores declined, as the holiday shopping season
ended on a lackluster note.
Retail sales rose 0.2 percent last
month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That follows strong gains
in October and November, helped by healthy auto sales.
In
December, car and truck sales fell 1.8 percent due to colder weather and
Black Friday discounts that moved some sales into November. The decline
held back overall retail spending that did show some signs of
underlying strength.
Excluding spending on autos, gas and building
supplies, retail sales rose a solid 0.7 percent. Economists say this
figure is a better proxy for confidence in the economy, because it does
not include the most volatile categories.
The report showed less
spending at traditional holiday outlets. But the December gain should be
enough to help generate 3 percent annualized growth in the final three
months of 2013, said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital
Economics.
"If we’re right in thinking that the underlying trend
in jobs growth is still improving, households will continue to spend
more freely in 2014," Dales said.
Many Americans are changing the
way they shop during the holidays. Online sales grew 1.4 percent in
December after a 1.6 percent gain in November. Consumers also spent more
at clothing stores, grocers and restaurants last month.
Still,
consumers spent less at the types of stores usually measured for holiday
shopping. Furniture and electronics purchases fell last month. And
sales at department stores fell a whopping 0.7 percent in December — and
3.3 percent for the full year.
For all of 2013, total retail sales rose 4.2 percent, the weakest gain in four years.
The
retail sales report is the first look at last month’s consumer
spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of all economic activity.
Businesses had been anticipating that consumer spending would perk up to
propel growth going forward.
Gains in consumer spending during
October and November pointed toward strong growth to close out the year,
as did increases in factory activity.
Auto purchases surged until
December, when they were basically flat compared with a year ago.
Still, for the year, car sales rose 8 percent to 15.6 million. That’s
the best pace since 2007, before the Great Recession began.
The
modest gains in retail sales last month comes after the government said
Friday that job gains slowed in December.
Stronger higher builds
consumer confidence and leads to more retail spending.
Just 74,000
jobs were added in December, the Labor Department said. The
unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent from 7 percent, largely because
347,000 unemployed Americans dropped out of the workforce. The economy
had been creating an average of 213,500 jobs a month from August to
November.
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