US Retail Sales Rebound Moderately in February

U.S. retail sales rebounded in February, suggesting that the economy continued to grow in the first quarter, though at a moderate pace as tariffs on imports and mass firings of federal government workers weigh on sentiment.

Retail sales rose 0.2% last month after a revised 1.2% decline in January, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales, which are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation, advancing 0.6% after a previously reported 0.9% drop in January.

That decline followed hefty gains in the fourth quarter and winter storms in many parts of the country in January as well as wildfires in California.

But with consumer sentiment sinking to a near 2-1/2-year low in March, the momentum is unlikely to be sustained.

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