Consumers went through their stimulus checks in January and shipped 5.3% of the month’s retail sales in a blockbuster from 2021, according to a government report on Wednesday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a rise of just 1.2%.
Excluding cars, sales rose 5.9%, well ahead of the 1% estimate in a show of unexpected strength from the consumer.
A month after Congress approved a $ 900 billion additional stimulus package, in addition to the $ 2.2 trillion previously approved in 2020, buyers were armed with $ 600 checks they used to buy a wide variety of products. .
The jump in consumer spending came at a time when growth expectations in early 2021 were silenced as the economy continued to shake the pandemic-induced slowdown.
Expenditure gains were broad, with all major categories increasing.
Electronics and home appliances experienced the largest increase, up 14.7% during the month, while furniture and home furniture stores increased 12% and online spending on non-commercial stores increased a 11%. Even places to eat and drink, which suffered worse during the pandemic, experienced a 6.9% increase.
While most economists see the year starting slowly, they expect the pace to increase later as vaccination efforts spread and the Covid-19 albatross fades.
One of the main concerns for the recovery has become inflation, and a separate data point showed that pressures continued to rise.
The producer price index, which measures the prices that domestic producers receive for their goods, rose by 1.3%, the largest monthly gain since the measure began in December 2009.
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