Washington, DC, January 12, 2007--Retail sales increased 0.9% in December, the best gain in five months, according to the Commerce Department.
Auto sales rose 0.3% in December. Excluding car sales, seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 1.0% in December. This was the largest gain since January.
Gasoline sales rose 3.8% in December. This was the largest increase since April. Excluding gas, retail sales increased 0.6%.
Economists were expecting a 0.7% gain for overall sales and 0.5% excluding autos.
For all of 2006, sales increased 6.0%, down from a 6.9% gain in 2005. The figures are not adjusted for inflation.
Optimism was tempered a bit by a downward revision to November. Retail sales increased a revised 0.6% in November and 0.7% excluding autos. This is down from the initial estimate of a 1% gain in overall sales and a 0.9% ex-auto gain.
The brightest spot in the report was sales at electronics stores, which rose 3% after a 5.8% gain in November.
General merchandise store sales rose 0.9%. Within that category, department store sales rose 0.2%.
Sales at leisure goods stores -- such as sporting goods, music, books and hobbies -- slipped 0.1%.
Clothing store sales rose 0.6% despite reports that warm weather was holding down sales of winter clothes.
Sales of food were strong. At food stores, sales increased 0.7%. Restaurant and bar sales rose 2.3%
Sales at personal care stores rose 1.2% in December after a 1.0% gain in November.
Sales at nonstore outlets, such as online stores or catalogs, rose 0.3%.
The biggest area of weakness was in sales at building materials and gardening stores, which dropped 1.1% in December after falling 0.5% in the previous month. Building material sales have fallen for five straight months.
