Friday, February 14, 2025

Retail Sales Crash in January

This is not surprising at all.

... BofA nailed it - as retail sales (nominal, remember) plunged 0.9% MoM in January (after December's +0.4% MoM was revised up to +0.7% MoM). That is the biggest MoM drop since March 2023...

Remember that 'nominal' sales means 'dollar sales.'  Since prices are up, less goods are being purchased.

"Adjusted" all to hell, too:

 ... the non-seasonally-adjusted retail sales for January actually crashed 16.5% MoM ...

... Nine of the report’s 13 categories posted decreases, most notably motor vehicles, sporting goods and furniture stores...

Well, there were fires, floods, and snow--in the South!!--which probably had some effect.

But we'll bet that BidenFlation of food and insurance (not to mention the YUGE price-hike in Pharmaceuticals For Geezers, another BidenFlation move) is behind a lot of that decrease.  When you can't afford eggs, cars and furniture go off the shopping list.

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