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US January Retail Sales Increase 0.1%

by KREX News Room
by Jacklyn Thrapp

Story Created: Feb 13, 2013 at 9:15 AM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 13, 2013 at 9:16 AM MDT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans barely spent more last month at retail businesses and restaurants after higher taxes cut their paychecks. The small increase suggests consumer spending may be weak in the January-March quarter.

The Commerce Department says retail sales ticked up 0.1 percent last month after a 0.5 percent rise in December. January's increase was the smallest in three months.

Sales fell at auto dealerships, clothing stores and furniture stores. They rose at home-improvement stores, gas stations and online retailers.

So-called core retail sales, which exclude autos, building materials, and gas stations, ticked up 0.2 percent. Economists pay close attention to core sales because they strip out the most volatile categories.

Nearly all working Americans are taking home less pay because of a temporary cut in Social Security taxes that expired last month.

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Anonymous said on Wednesday, Feb 13 at 9:27 AM

The propaganda sure is being laid on thick this morning....high frequency churning of the markets where JPM and Goldman Sachs trade a derivative back n forth millions of times for a .001 skim every time technically can be counted as GDP growth, it adds nothing of value to the real economy. All the manufacturers are gone. 12,000 people go on food stamps every day. The longer the media refuses to address any real issues, the longer we mope through this depression.

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