US ECON: Nov Retail Sales Strong +1.0%, Ex-Autos +1.1%

Retail sales in November far exceeded expectations, easily topping the high forecast in IFR's weekly economist survey. Sales at retail and food stores rose by 1.0% in November, while excluding autos, sales rose by 1.1%. That's the highest headline sales growth since July (+1.4%) but the highest ex-autos rate since January (2.7%).