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U.S. Retail Sales End 2024 with Lower Monthly Gains
U.S. retail sales rose 0.4% to end 2024 following an upwardly revised gain of 0.8% in November, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters and Bloomberg had projected a 0.6% increase for December.
Total sales last month reached $729.2 billion, a 3.9% increase year-over-year. Annual growth for 2024 was 3%.
If the headline figure was less than economists expected, then the control group figure was higher. The control group excludes volatile categories such as auto sales and building materials, and came in at 0.7% for the month, above the consensus forecast of 0.4%.
Coupled with a stronger than expected employment report for December, the retail sales results led some economists to revise their fourth-quarter GDP estimates upward and to question the outlook for more rate-cutting by the Federal Reserve.
“No one can make a case that the Fed has any urgent need to cut interest rates from this retail sales report,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, told Reuters. “No push from monetary stimulus is needed with the economy already at full employment.”
