Usa: retail sales -1.1% in December. The ex car and petrol numbers

US retail sales fell 1.1% in December, worse than the 0.8% decline expected by economists’ consensus, worse than a 0.6% drop in November.

Excluding the auto sales component, retail sales fell again by 1.1%, reporting a significantly worse trend than the estimated -0.4%, and accelerating downwards significantly compared to the previous decline, equal to – 0.2%.

Excluding auto and petrol sales, the decline was 0.7%, compared to -0.2% previously.