US retail sales post second straight monthly drop

WASHINGTON  – U.S. retail sales fell more than expected in March as consumers cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, suggesting that the economy was losing steam at the end of the first quarter because of higher interest rates.

Retail sales dropped 1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. Data for February was revised up to show retail sales falling 0.2 percent instead of 0.4 percent as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales slipping 0.4 percent. They increased 2.9 percent year-on-year in March.

“American consumers are pulling back, but it’s unclear how much of the fade is normal payback from an earlier binge and how much is underlying weakness,” said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. “We suspect the headwinds are starting to dominate, and still look for a mild contraction in both spending and the economy through mid-year.”

Retail sales are mostly goods, which are typically bought on credit, and are not adjusted for inflation. The second straight monthly decrease followed a sharp surge in January.

The decline in retail sales was almost across the board. Receipts at auto dealers dropped 1.6 percent after falling 1.3 percent in February. Furniture store sales fell 1.2 percent, while receipts at electronics and appliance stores tumbled 2.1 percent. Sales at building material and garden equipment supplies dealers plummeted 2.1 percent.

Receipts at clothing outlets dropped 1.7 percent. But online retail sales jumped 1.9 percent, while receipts at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores gained 0.2 percent. Sales at food services and drinking places, the only services category in the retail sales report, edged up 0.1 percent.

There is no consensus that a tightening in credit conditions in March following the failure of two regional banks impacted retail sales, though data from Citi Credit Cards showed a decline in retail spending during the month.

The pullback in retail sales is mostly attributed to the Federal Reserve’s year-long interest rate hiking campaign, which is slowing inflation by cooling domestic demand. Reports last week showed employment growth and services sector activity slowing in March, while manufacturing continued to slump.

Still, the economy is not slowing fast enough to prevent the U.S. central bank from raising rates one more time in May, before an anticipated pause in June in the Fed’s fastest monetary policy tightening cycle since the 1980s. The Fed has hiked its policy rate by 475 basis points since last March from the near-zero level to the current 4.75 percent-5 percent range.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales slipped 0.3 percent last month. These so-called core retail sales increased by an unrevised 0.5 percent in February.

Core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Despite March’s fall, the gains in January and February put consumer spending firmly on track to accelerate in the first quarter.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, grew at its slowest pace in 2-1/2 years in the fourth quarter. Economic growth estimates for the first quarter are mostly below a 2- percent annualized rate. The economy expanded at a 2.6 – percent pace in the October-December quarter.