etail sales in January jumped by 2.3%, the biggest gain since May 2004, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
etail sales rose to $365.4 billion, and gained 2.2% excluding automobiles, Commerce said.
The rise was the fifth straight and was more than double economists’ estimates of a 0.9% gain, Bloomberg reported.
Almost all trucking operations depend on the health of retail sales because such sales involve nearly every type of cargo.
The warmest January in a century helped spur sales of building materials, furniture and apparel, Bloomberg reported.
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