The $600 stimulus checks got Americans shopping again.
After three months of declines, retail sales soared a seasonally adjusted 5.3% in January from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday. It was the biggest increase since June and much larger than the 1% rise Wall Street analysts had expected.
The $600 stimulus checks, sent out at the very end of last year, has pushed people to buy new furniture, clothing and appliances.
Darryl Crum bought a new washing machine with his stimulus money, since his old one wasn’t spinning clothes well enough anymore. He chose a model that was made in America and bought it from a family-owned store instead of the major chain he usually gets appliances from.
“As I see it, the goal was to stimulate the economy,” said Crum, who is retired and lives in DeKalb, Illinois. “And I contributed.”
How long spending will continue without more stimulus checks remains to be seen.
Retail sales slumped in the last three months of 2020, as stimulus money dried up, job growth was nonexistent and a surge in virus cases kept people away from stores during the critical holiday shopping season. In fact, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that December's drop was actually larger than it first reported, revised to be down 1% instead of a 0.7% drop.
More stimulus could keep Americans spending. President Joe Biden is trying to push through a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, which would include $1,400 in direct payments to most Americans. The U.S. job market is still weak: Employers added just 49,000 jobs in January after losing 227,000 jobs the month before, the first loss since April.
Besides strong sales at furniture and appliance stores, sales jumped an eye-popping 23.5% at department stores after slumping 3% in the last year. Online sales soared 11% and spending at restaurants, which have been hard hit by coronavirus restrictions, rose 6.9% last month.
Wednesday’s report covers about a third of overall consumer spending. It doesn’t include haircuts, hotel stays and other services, which have been badly hurt by the pandemic.
Raina Moskowitz, CEO of The Knot Worldwide, unpacks the 2025 Global Wedding Report, from Gen Z trends to how Taylor Swift's wedding could reshape the industry.
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
