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Retail sales remain strong
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March 11, 1999: 9:00 a.m. ET
February gain of 0.6% excluding cars, 0.9% overall, meets forecast
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WASHINGTON (CNNfn) - Retail sales continued their strong performance in February, rising 0.9 percent overall and 0.6 percent excluding automobiles, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The increases in both categories were exactly in line with what analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected.
As it turned out, the February increase was a bit below that of January, which was revised to up 1 percent from the originally reported up 0.2 percent. Sales excluding autos were revised to up 1.1 percent from up 0.2 percent.
"I think that the U.S. consumer is hot to trot," said David Rosenberg, senior economist for Nesbitt Burns in Toronto. "I think you're looking at a first quarter that's going to easily top 10 percent (in retail sales increase) on an annualized basis."
Sales of durable goods were up 1.2 percent in February from January, while sales of non-durable goods rose 0.7 percent. Apparel sales posted a 1 percent increase in February after the January figure was revised to up 3.7 percent from the originally reported up 1 percent.
Treasury prices turned higher after the report. The U.S. 30-year bond was up 7/32 to 95-24/32, yielding 5.54 percent; prior to the 8:30 ET report, the bond was down 2/32. 
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