March Retail Sales Slip 0.3%

The U.S. Census Bureau released advance estimates of retail and food services sales for March on Wednesday morning. Seasonally adjusted sales slipped 0.3% to $446.9 billion, compared with February 2016 sales of $447.3 billion, and fell 1.7% year over year. Total sales for the three-month period of January through March 2016 period were up 2.8% from a year ago.

The Census Bureau also revised its previous estimate of a drop of 0.1% between January and February to a new estimate of no change.

Excluding motor vehicle and parts sales, sales rose 0.2% month over month and rose 1.8% year over year. Analysts were expecting a month-over-month increase of 0.1% and an annual increase of 0.4%, excluding autos and auto parts. Gasoline stations sales rose 0.9% month over month and are down 15.6% year over year, almost entirely due to lower gasoline prices.
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Sales were stronger across a broad range of products. Automobile sales slipped 2.3%% in March compared with January, but they are up 1.5% compared with March 2015. Building materials and garden supply sales rose 1.4% compared with February and are up 10.8% year over year. Non-store retailers (i.e., online stores) saw sales drop by 0.1% compared with February, and online sales are up 6.5% year over year.

Monthly dips in sales occurred in clothing and accessories stores (down 0.9%), department stores (down 0.6%) and restaurants and bars (down 0.8%).

Electronics stores posted a month-over-month gain of 0.1% and a year-over-year decline of 2.1% in sales.