Retail sales strong despite miss

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Weakness in electronics, auto and gas station sales dragged down overall retail sales last month, but excluding those three categories, retailers enjoyed healthy increases across the board, according to government figures released Wednesday.

Moreover, December sales numbers were also revised higher.

"January was a pretty decent month, especially after the big gains in December. You just can't keep the American consumer down," said Michael Niemira, chief economist with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

The Commerce Department said retail sales were unchanged last month, compared with a revised 1.2 percent increase in December. However, the drag on overall sales came from a 1.3 percent drop in auto sales, a 0.7 percent decline in sales at gas stations and a 1.2 percent decline in sales of consumer electronics.

The government had originally reported a 0.9 percent gain in the previous month. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com on average had forecast an increase of 0.3 percent for January.

"The positive in last month's story is that the strong segments completely overshadowed the weaker ones," Niemira said.

Sales excluding autos and auto parts rose 0.3 percent last month compared with revised 1.3 percent increase in December. Sales ex-auto were originally reported to have increased 1 percent in December.

Economists had forecast a 0.4 percent ex-auto increase in January, according to Briefing.com.

Earlier this month, some retailers said colder temperatures finally helped improve purchases of coats and sweaters in January. Sales of cold weather gear have suffered substantially because of much warmer-than-normal average temperatures at the start of the season.

Federated Department Stores (Charts), which operates Macy's and Bloomingdale's, reported January same-store sales, or sales at its stores open at least a year, that jumped 8.6 percent. Kohl's (Charts) and J.C. Penney (Charts) also benefited from late-season demand for winter clothing.

Indeed, according to the Commerce Department numbers, department store sales surged 1.4 percent and clothing sales jumped 1.0 percent in December

Elsewhere, sales at general merchandise stores like Wal-Mart (Charts) and Target (Charts) rose 1.3 percent while furniture and home furnishing purchases increased 0.8 percent.

"These numbers show that there's a lot of momentum in the pipeline both in merchandising and consumer demand," said Niemira.

Moreover, employment rate is still relatively low, income growth is good and inflation has moderated, he said. "So why should consumers hold back?"

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