Consumers continued to exhibit their inclination to spend as holiday shopping got underway. Total retail sales rose 0.2% during November (4.9% y/y) following a 1.1% October jump, revised from 0.8%. The latest increase matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales gained 0.2% (5.7% y/y) after a 1.0% increase, revised from 0.7%. A 0.3% improvement had been expected.

A measure of the underlying pace of retail spending is nonauto sales growth excluding gasoline and building materials. These sales surged 0.9% (5.2% y/y) and built on a 0.7% October gain, revised from 0.3%.

Strength in sales was notable for online retailers whose sales increased 2.3% (12.1% y/y) following two months of strong gain. Purchases at electronics & appliance stores similarly were firm as they rose 1.4% (5.0% y/y), about as they did during the prior month. Furniture & home furnishings store sales grew 1.2% (2.9% y/y) after a moderate decline. General merchandise store sales gained 0.4% (4.2% y/y) after a 0.8% rise. Sporting goods, hobby shop, book & music store sales also improved 0.4% (-7.8% y/y) following a 1.1% increase. Motor vehicle & parts dealership sales gained 0.2% (1.4% y/y) even as unit motor vehicle sales eased 0.2% m/m.

Reflecting lower prices, gasoline service station sales declined 2.3% (+8.7% y/y) after a 3.2% jump. Also working lower were clothing & accessory store sales by 0.2% (+4.1% y/y) after two months of firm increase. Building materials & garden equipment store sales also were weak. They fell 0.3% (+3.5% y/y) on the heels of a 1.5% strengthening.

Sales of nondiscretionary items were firm last month. Health & personal care product store sales increased 0.9% (3.6% y/y) after falling for three straight months. Food & beverage store sales gained 0.4% (3.3% y/y) after a 0.3% rise.

Eating out was less in vogue during November as restaurant & drinking establishment sales declined 0.5% after a 0.6% increase, revised up from a moderate decline. Sales have lost forward momentum, however, as the 6.9% y/y increase moderated from 10.9% y/y growth just three months earlier.

The retail sales data can be found in Haver's USECON database. The Action Economics forecast is in the AS1REPNA database.