The Commerce Department reported on Thursday the sales at U.S. retailers surged 9.8 percent m-o-m in March, following a revised 2.7 percent m-o-m decline in February (originally a 3.0 percent m-o-m fall). This was the strongest monthly gain since May 2020.

Economists had expected total sales would jump 5.9 percent m-o-m in March.

According to the report, the largest advances in retail sales were recorded for sporting goods (+23.5 percent m-o-m), clothing (+18.3 percent m-o-m), food and beverage (13.4 percent m-o-m) and building materials (+12.1 percent m-o-m).

Excluding auto, retail sales climbed 8.4 percent m-o-m in March after a revised 2.5 percent m-o-m drop in the previous month (originally a 2.7 percent m-o-m decrease), being much better than economists’ forecast of a 5.2 percent m-o-m gain.

Meanwhile, closely watched core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, and are used in GDP calculations, jumped 6.9 percent m-o-m in March after a revised 3.4 percent m-o-m decrease in February (originally a 3.5 percent m-o-m decline).