There were $677.1billion in retail and food service sales in December a decline from the previous month but 6.0% above the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Core retail sales—excluding automobiles and gasoline—decreased 0.8% from the previous month and 6.1% from the previous year.
Retail trade sales were down 1.2 % from November 2022, but up 5.2 % above last year Gasoline stores were up 13.7 % from December 2021, while food services and drinking places were up 12.1 % from last year.
Read the Census release.