Breaking: US Retail Sales rise by 3.8% MoM in January vs. 2.0% expected

• US Retail Sales saw larger than expected gains in January across headline and core measures, though December data saw large negative revisions. 
• The US dollar has been choppy in response the latest data and not shown a clear reaction. 

Headline US Retail Sales rose by 3.8% MoM in January, well above median economist forecasts for a 2.0% MoM rise, marking a sharp acceleration from December's 2.5% MoM decline, which had been revised negatively from a 1.9% decline, data released by the US Census Bureau on Wednesday showed.

Core Retail Sales also saw a much larger than expected MoM growth rate of 3.3% versus median forecasts for a 0.8% gain, though the December reading also saw a negative revision to -2.8% from previously -2.3%. The Retail Control group, which correlated more closely to the retail sales component in US GDP calculations, gained 4.8% MoM, well above the 1.0% expected, though December's reading was also revised negatively to -4.0% from previously -3.1%. 

Import and Export Price Index data for January was also released at the same time as the latest Retail Sales report, showing the former rising 2.0% MoM in January and the latter rising 2.9%. That is well above the 1.3% MoM expected rise for both.   

Market Reaction

The US dollar didn't see much of a reaction to the latest US Retail Sales figures, with any strength associated with large heading beats seemingly negated by the negative revisions to the December numbers.