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Overall sales grew 0.3 percent last month, which fell short of Wall Street expectations. And even worse, if you were to strip out the 2.6 percent gain in auto and auto-parts sales, retail sales slumped 0.3 percent last month. That's hardly the way retailers wanted to kick off the critical holiday shopping season.
But if you dig a little deeper into the report, you'll see that the Christmas shopping season isn't doing so badly.
For example, the biggest drop in consumer purchases last month took place at gasoline stations—not at the malls. It's not that consumers were driving that much less. Rather, the drop in prices at the fuel pumps last month (after gas prices hit record highs in September and October) allowed drivers to spend less on gas.
This, in turn, allowed shoppers to spend more on other categories. Indeed, if you were to strip out the 5.9 percent decline in gasoline sales last month, overall retail sales actually grew 1 percent in November versus the prior month. This represents a decent improvement from October, when retail sales minus gasoline rose a modest 0.4 percent.
Several critical holiday categories showed solid gains last month. Apparel retailers, for instance, saw a 0.2 percent rise in sales. Department stores, which have been struggling of late, enjoyed a 0.5 percent increase in business in November. So did electronics and appliance stores. And building material and garden supply stores experienced a 1.9 percent boost.
One category that isn't doing so well—and it could be related to the slowdown in the housing market—is furniture stores. They saw a 0.3 percent drop in sales last month.
Still, retail sales continue to grow in spite of pressures weighing down the consumer. Over the past 12 months, overall retail sales have jumped 6.3 percent. And sales excluding autos have done even better, increasing 8.7 percent since last November.
Biz Buzz wraps up the day's market news and offers an agenda of upcoming economic news.
