The Commerce Department announced on Tuesday the sales at U.S. retailers fell 0.5 percent m-o-m in February, following a revised 0.6 percent m-o-m advance in January (originally a 0.3 percent m-o-m gain). That was the largest decline in trade since December 2018.

Economists had expected total sales would increase 0.2 percent m-o-m in February.

Excluding auto, retail sales also dropped 0.4 percent m-o-m in February after a revised 0.6 percent m-o-m climb in the previous month (originally a 0.3 percent m-o-m advance), missing economists' forecast for a 0.2 percent m-o-m gain.

In y-o-y terms, the U.S. retail sales surged 4.3 percent in February, following a revised 5.0 jump in the previous month (originally a 4.4 percent increase).