Retail sales were strong in December

U.S. retail sales were strong in December, helped by two holiday shopping days during Thanksgiving weekend that fell during the last month of the year, according to National Retail Federation.

Total retail sales, not counting automobiles and gasoline were up 1.7 percent seasonally adjusted month-over-month and up 7.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year in December, the federation reported.

That compared with increases of 0.15 percent month-over-month and 2.35 percent year-over -year in November.

“Growth rebounded strongly in December from a misleadingly weaker November as the result of the final two days of the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend being included in December’s data,” said Matthew Shay, the federation’s president and chief executive officer, in the statement. “Households are in good financial shape amid low unemployment, growing income, and continued deceleration of inflation.

“We remain confident in our 2024 holiday forecast and retail sales projection for the year.”

The two holiday shopping days that fell in December were Sunday Dec. 1 and Cyber Monday the following day.