Bank of America's omniscient analysts forecast a very strong month for Retail Sales in February data (released today)...

The actual print was +0.6% MoM (better than the 0.5% consensus, but less than BofA's forecast) comes after a revised higher 0.1% MoM decline in January (and December's nothingburger)...

Source: Bloomberg

That is the highest MoM rise since June 2025, and sales rose 3.7% YoY...

Core Retail Sales (Ex Autos) rose 0.5% MoM (much better than expected) and Ex Autos and Gas also rose more than expected (+0.4% MoM).

Food and Beverage spending fell while Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers saw the biggest jump...

Most importantly, the 'Control Group' which plugs into the GDP calculation rose 0.5% MoM (also considerably better than expected).