January retail sales showed their weakest performance in five months, falling 0.3%, with spending powered largely by shoppers looking to use holiday gift cards.
The falloff followed a big December surge of 1.1%.
Car sales affected the performance with incentives driving a 4% jump in December and a 3.3% decline in January, the largest decline since last June. Excluding auto sales, retail sales rose 0.6% in January, twice what analysts had been projecting, according to news reports.
Sales at appliance and electronic stores were down 0.6%, while sales at hardware stores slid 0.3% and furniture store sales dipped 0.1%.
Sales at clothing and clothing accessory stores jumped 1.8% in January, while sales at general merchandise stores (including department stores) rose 0.9%.
The solid gains were attributed in part to consumers redeeming gift cards they had received over the holidays.
Sales at restaurants, bars and coffee houses rose by 0.3%, while grocery store sales were up 0.5%, news reports said.
Consumer spending is expected to remain solid this year.
Network
