The Commerce Department announced the sales at U.S. retailers rose 0.2 percent m-o-m in January 2019, following a revised 1.6 percent m-o-m decline in December 2018 (originally a drop of 1.2 percent m-o-m). That was the first monthly gain since October last year.

Economists had expected total sales would be flat m-o-m in January.

Excluding auto, retail sales increased 0.9 percent m-o-m after a revised 2.1 percent m-o-m decrease in the previous month (originally a fall of 1.8 percent m-o-m), exceeding economists’ forecast for a 0.3 percent m-o-m advance.

Meanwhile, closely watched core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, and are used in GDP calculations, climbed 1.1 percent m-o-m in January, following a revised 2.3 percent m-o-m plunge in December (originally a 1.7 percent m-o-m decrease).

In y-o-y terms, the U.S. retail sales rose 2.3 percent in January, the same pace as in the previous month.