Discussion

By John Zarwan on Feb 22, 2016

retail sales includes gasoline. So falling gasoline prices will depress sales. (Even if one eliminates this sector, gasoline makes up a substantial portion of other retailers' sales---Costco is the largest purveyor of gas in the US, and now that Wal-Mart is taking over their stations from Murphy, I imagine they'll become at least the second)

By Joe Webb on Feb 22, 2016

The declining gas price was supposed to stimulate the sales of other goods. That price drop was supposed to be like "a tax cut" for consumers. Instead, they've been using it to pay off debt (aka goods and services purchases made in the past). I've never been comfortable with the idea of this concept that if energy prices drop consumers will fill in the gap with different purchases. One of the things they've been buying with the savings is the increased costs of health insurance, not part of retail sales, which have weighed retail sales growth down for a while.