Retail sales badly undershot forecasts, including a dive in sales at nonstore retailers like Amazon (AMZN). Consumer price index data for January showed that core inflation ran hotter than expected, with services prices rising at the fastest pace since September 2022. However, weekly jobless claims unexpectedly dipped, giving no indication of a softening U.S. labor market.

Overall retail sales fell 0.8%, including a 1.7% fall in auto-related spending. Wall Street expected overall sales to slip 0.1%, after a 0.4% rise in December that was revised down from the initial 0.6% gain.

According to Econoday, excluding autos, sales slid 0.6%, way below forecasts of a 0.2% gain. Sales fell 0.5% excluding both autos and gas, missing the +0.3% forecast. Sales at building materials and garden supplies stores tumbled 4.1%. December retail sales excluding autos were unrevised from the initially reported 0.4% increase.

Meanwhile, the U.S. initial jobless claims slipped 8,000 to 212,000 for the week through Feb. 10 vs. expectations of 219,000. The four-week average increased 5,750 to 218,500.