Eating out in threadbare clothes

Retail sales for January are out and show a 0.3% seasonally adjusted rise, which equates roughly to the levels of wage growth:

However, the trend still looks pretty sick:

And the state by state breakup shows that the big states continue to struggle and pretty seriously too:

Over longer time frames the pictures is slightly better but not much:

When we split by sub category, it starts to get downright ugly, with eating out dominating the month’s growth, and everyone else in the dirt. We’ll surrender our Thai meals last even if it means wearing clothes full of holes:

Again, over a longer time frame it is a bit better but not much:

After two rate cuts, this report does not encourage a reappraisal of retail stocks.