U.S. retail sales grew in line with the economists estimates in the last month of 2012 as the season of holiday shopping offset the negative mood from the fiscal cliff discussion at the end of the year, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. The report showed a 0.2% gain in retail sales in December following a November's increase of 0.3%, while economists forecast set the range from a 0.3% lost to a 0.8% gain.
"Holiday sales grew at a pretty modest pace," said Josh Dennerlein, an economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. "Until we see a big increase in employment growth, it's going to be tough for consumer spending to pick up. The consumer is going to struggle a bit in the first quarter while adjusting to the new reality of the higher payrolls tax."