November Retail Sales Up On Gasoline, Autos Not a Factor

Real quick, looks like we have a gain over October and a better-than-expected number overall for November Retail Sales.  And the “clunkers” were irrelevant…

From CNNMoney:

Retail sales jumped 1.3% in November, according to the Commerce Department, well more than the expected increase.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise 0.6% from October, according to a consensus of forecasts compiled by Briefing.com.

The seasonally adjusted November increase represents $352.1 billion worth of monthly sales. This is slightly less than the October increase, when retail sales jumped 1.4% month-to-month.

Automobile sales had little to do with November’s gains. Without including autos, retail sales rose 1.2% last month.

Keep in mind that Black Friday, which sucked this year but is still a big factor, is in the November data.

Source:

Retail Sales Leap 1.3%  (CNNMoney)