12 March 2010 - 14H43  

US retail sales unexpectedly rise 0.3% in February
A couple push carts loaded with supplies after shopping at a Giant food store ahead of a forecasted snowstorm in Silver Spring, Maryland, on February 9. US retail sales unexpectedly rose 0.3 percent in February, despite severe winter storms that hammered large regions of the country, official data showed Friday.
A couple push carts loaded with supplies after shopping at a Giant food store ahead of a forecasted snowstorm in Silver Spring, Maryland, on February 9. US retail sales unexpectedly rose 0.3 percent in February, despite severe winter storms that hammered large regions of the country, official data showed Friday.

AFP - US retail sales unexpectedly rose 0.3 percent in February, despite severe winter storms that hammered large regions of the country, official data showed Friday.

The Commerce Department said that retail and food service sales increased to 355.5 billion dollars, according to adjusted data that does not reflect price changes.

On a 12-month basis, retail sales were 3.9 percent higher than in February 2009, when the government passed a nearly 800-billion-dollar stimulus package in a bid to pull the economy out of the worst recession in decades.

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