Retail Sales Surge Broad-Based

March's Retail Sales data was better than expected, and likely lifted by the Easter holiday, despite the government's supposed adjustment for it.

"The Greek" earned clients a 23% average annual return over five years as a stock analyst on Wall Street. While writing for Wall Street Greek and others, he presciently predicted the financial crisis and housing and banking failures of the Great Recession. Visit the front pages of Wall Street Greek now to see our current coverage of business news, global financial markets, real estate, shipping, fine art, technical analysis and global affairs.

(Tickers: NYSE: PIR, NYSE: ETH, Nasdaq: HOFT, NYSE: HD, NYSE: LOW, Nasdaq: AAPL, NYSE: BBY, NYSE: F, NYSE: TM, NYSE: HMC, NYSE: LTD, NYSE: CHS, NYSE: ANN, NYSE: GPS, NYSE: M, NYSE: JCP, NYSE: JWN, NYSE: TJX, NYSE: KSS, Nasdaq: COST, NYSE: TGT, NYSE: WMT, Nasdaq: WTSLA, Nasdaq: HOTT, NYSE: AEO, NYSE: ARO, NYSE: ANF, NYSE: SAK, NYSE: TIF, NYSE: TLB, NYSE: LL, Nasdaq: BLDR, NYSE: FO, NYSE: LEG, NYSE: TPX, NYSE: AYI, NYSE: LZB, Nasdaq: SCSS, NYSE: ZZ, NYSE: FBN, NYSE: NTZ, NYSE: DIA, NYSE: SPY, Nasdaq: QQQQ, NYSE: DOG, NYSE: SDS, NYSE: QLD)

Retail Sales

Retail sales gave lift to stocks Wednesday, with growth that exceeded economists' expectations. Retail sales growth was broad-based, though autos helped significantly on the headline measure. Gasoline sales were up sharply from prior year levels, given the nation's renewed hope, and renewed life to gas prices. With all the good news, we think you'll be shocked to see where sales softened.

Retail Sales Report for March

March Retail Sales were reported this morning at 8:30 AM. Despite government assurances of holiday adjustments, this metric was expected here to see impact from the earlier Easter holiday that pushed relative sales forward a week. As a result, March growth was aided over both the prior year period and over February levels.

March retail sales gained by 1.6% over February, so strong they even exceeded economists' expectations for a 1.2% gain. Sales were also significantly higher than February's revised sales pace of +0.5%. March sales were 7.6% above March of 2009, on relative Gasoline Station gains of 26.4% and Motor Vehicle Sales growth of 14.1%.

Ex-Auto?

Excluding autos, sales were up only 0.6%, versus economists' expectations for a gain of 0.5%, and against the revised 1.0% increase in February. Motor Vehicle and Parts Sales were powerful in March, benefiting from Ford (NYSE: F) and GM incentives geared to steal market share from Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC). Toyota's counter incentives resulted, and were geared to preserve market share at TM. Motor Vehicle & Parts Dealers Sales rose 6.7% in March, while Auto & Other Motor Vehicle Dealers sales increased 7.5%.

More than Autos

Growth was broad-based across retailers though. As already seen in the strong Chain Store Sales activity for March, clothing retailers are marking renewed consumer demand strength, and not just in the discount space. Clothing & Clothing Accessory Stores marked a sales gain of 2.3%. Growth has not been limited to those though, as Sporting Goods, Hobby, Books and Music Stores saw a 1.0% increase as well. General Merchandise and Department Stores posted sales growth of 0.6% and 1.0%, respectively, and I can report that people have stopped Google searching for "Macy's going bankrupt?".

Even the depressed housing market could not restrain household related sales. Furniture & Home Furnishing Stores posted sales growth of 1.5% month-to-month, and 4.2% year-over-year. That seems positive for shareholders of Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR), Ethan Allen (NYSE: ETH) and Hooker Furniture (Nasdaq: HOFT). Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers saw sales grow 3.1% month-to-month. That's good news for Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowes (NYSE: LOW).

Surprise Surprise

Weakness was seen in Electronics & Appliance Store Sales, which posted a decline of 1.3%. However, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and friends stand to benefit from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad driven traffic in April and the months ahead.

The market rejoiced in this marquee report on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrials gaining about 0.6% and Nasdaq rising over 1% through the hour of publishing.

Editor's Note: This article should interest investors in NYSE: PIR, NYSE: ETH, Nasdaq: HOFT, NYSE: HD, NYSE: LOW, NYSE: LTD, NYSE: CHS, NYSE: ANN, NYSE: GPS, NYSE: M, NYSE: JCP, NYSE: JWN, NYSE: TJX, NYSE: KSS, Nasdaq: COST, NYSE: TGT, NYSE: WMT, Nasdaq: WTSLA, Nasdaq: HOTT, NYSE: AEO, NYSE: ARO, NYSE: ANF, NYSE: SAK, NYSE: TIF, NYSE: TLB, NYSE: LL, Nasdaq: BLDR, NYSE: FO, NYSE: LEG, NYSE: TPX, NYSE: AYI, NYSE: LZB, Nasdaq: SCSS, NYSE: ZZ, NYSE: FBN, NYSE: NTZ.


Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.