Retail Sales Rebound Less Than Expected In February: Online, Healthcare Spending Show Strong Gains

U.S. retail sales showed a rebound in February following a sharp decline in January, yet the pace of the broader recovery fell short of economists’ expectations, underscoring some challenges facing the American economy in the first quarter.

Retail sales rose 0.2% month-over-month in February 2025, following a downwardly revised 1.2% contraction in January, according to advance estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau released Monday. The figure missed economist projections of a 0.6% increase, as tracked by TradingEconomics.

On an annual basis, retail sales grew 3.1%, slowing from the previous downwardly revised 3.9% growth.

Yet, key data in the report revealed underlying strength across major consumer categories.

Non-store retailers, a key gauge of online sales, rose by 2.4% month-over-month and health and personal care stores soared by 1.7%.

Excluding gas stations and auto sales, retail sales rose 0.5% month-over-month, rebounding from January’s 0.8% decline and outperforming expectations of a 0.4% gain.

The control group measure—which excludes sales from auto dealers, building materials, gas stations, office supply stores, mobile home dealers, and tobacco retailers—climbed 1% in February, fully offsetting January's 1% drop and vastly outperforming the expected 0.2% increase.

Market Reaction

U.S. stock futures rebounded following the retail trade report. As of 8:40 a.m. Eastern Time, S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%, trimming earlier losses..

On Friday, the S&P 500—tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY—closed 2.1% higher but still logged its fourth consecutive weekly loss.

Meanwhile, gold futures were up 0.3% extending their rally, after having closed their 10th positive week out of the last 11.

The U.S. dollar Index – a key measure of the greenback's strength – was down 0.1%.

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