US retail sales rise 3% to $697B in January

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US retail sales rose 3% to $697 billion in January, according to advance figures released Wednesday by the Commerce Department.

While retail sales rose more than estimates of a 1.8% decrease, they stood at $676.9 billion for a monthly contraction of 1.1% in December.

Retail sales climbed 6.4% in January compared to the same month the previous year.

The gains in January figures indicate that consumer demand is still strong in the world's largest economy despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening to fight inflation.

Annual consumer inflation came in at 6.4% in January, easing slightly from 6.5% in December. On a monthly basis, consumer prices in January rose 0.5% from the previous month, while the figure for December was revised to a 0.1% gain from a decline of the same magnitude.

Last year, the Fed raised interest rates by a total of 425 points in seven rate hikes to fight record inflation, which jumped to a 40-year high in mid-2022. On Feb. 1, it raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points – less than December's hike of 50 basis points.