Retail sales, strengthened by a rebound in demand for autos, rose a healthy 0.5 percent in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
In addition to a solid sales performance last month, the government revised sharply higher its estimate for sales activity in January, showing a gain of 0.3 percent rather than the original estimate that sales had fallen by 0.3 percent at the beginning of the year.
A separate report by the Treasury Department showed capital inflows were the second largest on record in January and were more than enough to finance the nation’s current account deficit that month.
Currency analysts had forecast a net inflow into U.S. assets in a range between $55 billion and $75 billion for January, and the dollar gained broadly after the $91.5 billion result.
