The February 2016 Retail Sales report shows retail sales decreased -0.1% for the month as gasoline sales plunged by -4.4%.  Without autos & parts sales, retail sales still decreased by -0.1%.  Gasoline sales have dropped -15.6% from a year ago.  Declining gasoline sales are once again responsible for the disappointing figures, as without gas stations considered, retail sales increased by a modest 0.2%.

Other than the employment report and the GDP report itself, the monthly report on Personal Income and Outlays from the Bureau of Economic Analysis is probably the most important economic release we see monthly.

As was widely expected,  the Second Estimate of our 3rd Quarter GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis indicated that our real output of goods and services grew at a 2.1% rate in the 2nd quarter, revised from the 1.5% growth rate reported in the advance estimate last month, as fixed investment and inventories were revised higher while exports were revised lower.

Seasonally adjusted headline retail sales rose just 0.1% in September while August sales were revised 0.2% lower and July's sales were revised 0.1% higher, resulting in an advance sales figure statistically unchanged from last month's report.  The Advance Retail Sales Report for September (pdf) from the Census Bureau estimated that our seasonally adjusted retail and food services sales totaled $447.7 billion,