US Retail Sales rose more than expected in December

• US Retail Sales rose by 0.6% in December, compared to the 0.4% gain of market consensus.
• Core Retail Sales increased by 0.4%, and Control Group Sales by 0.8%.

Retail Sales in the US rose 0.6% on a monthly basis in December to $709.9 billion, the data published by the US Census Bureau showed on Wednesday. This reading followed the 0.3% gain recorded in November ($706.0 billion) and came in better than the market expectation of a 0.4% gain.

Retail Sales Ex-Autos rose 0.4% in the same period. Retail Sales Control Group increased 0.8%.

Market reaction

The Greenback recovered some ground following the Retail Sales report. The USD Index (DXY) climbed to a new 2024 peak of 103.60.

(This story was corrected on January 17 at 13:47 GMT to say that market expectation was at 0.4%, not 0.3%, while Retail Sales ex-Autos rose 0.4%, not 0.6%.)