WASHINGTON - US RETAIL sales rebounded unexpectedly in January, rising 1.0 per cent, after six consecutive months of decline, government data showed on Thursday.
The Commerce Department's seasonally adjusted data reported the sharpest monthly percentage gain since November 2007, the last month before the world's largest economy officially entered recession.
The jump in retail sales confounded analysts' consensus forecast of a decline of 0.8 per cent.
On a year-over-year basis, January retail sales fell 9.7 per cent from January 2008, the department said. -- AFP
