Advance estimates of U.S. retail sales released by the U.S. Census Bureau Thursday appear to confirm reports that harsh weather across much of the country suppressed retail sales in January.
Census estimated sales by sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores reached $7.07 billion in January, or down 1.4 percent from December 2013 and down 2.1 percent from December 2013 on an adjusted basis.
By comparison, adjusted sales by department and other general merchandise stores declined -0.1 percent and -0.2 percent respectively. At clothing and clothing accessories stores, adjusted sales declined 0.9 percent from December and were up 1.2 percent from January 2013. Adjusted sales by online, catalog and other non-store retailers declined 0.6 percent from December and were up 6.5 percent from January 2013. Census also revised its estimate of the change in adjusted sales by sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores for December to a decline of 0.9 percent from November and an increase of 3.8 percent from December, 2012.
Advance estimates provide the government’s first estimate of monthly U.S. retail sales. They are based on a survey of just 5,000 retail and food services firms and will be revised twice in coming months as more data becomes available. So-called "adjusted estimates" seek to exclude the impact of changes in the selling calendar from one month, quarter or year to the next, but do not adjust for changes in prices.
