The Census Bureau's Advance Retail Sales Report for February came in at $561.7 billion, down 3.0% from January, this is the biggest contraction since April 2020's 16.4% drop. The 3% decrease follows an upwardly revised (from 5.3% to 7.6%) January figure, which was the strongest advance in seven months. Total sales for December 2020 through February 2021 were up 6.0% year-over-year. Retail trade sales were down 3.1% from January 2021, and up 9.5% over last year. Non-store retailers were up 25.9% from February 2020, while food services and drinking places were down 17.0% from last year.

The Commerce Department reported housing starts fell in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.421M which is 10.3% below January’s revised 1.54M, and 9.3% below February 2020’s 1.567M. Housing starts are at their lowest level since August 2020. Housing starts declined in the Northeast (-39.5%), Midwest (-34.9%) and South (-9.7%), but increased (+17.6%) in the West. Building Permits also fell in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.682M which is 10.8% below January’s revised 1.886M, but still 17% ahead of February 2020’s 1.438M. Privately-owned housing completions came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.362M, 2.9% above January’s revised 1.324M, and 5.0% above February 2020’s 1.297M.

The Department of Labor reported initial jobless claims increased to 770,000 for the week ending March 13, an increase of 45,000 from the previous week’s revised 725,000.  The 4-week moving average dropped to 746,250, a decrease from the previous week's revised average of 762,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate which tracks claims not being filed for the first time for the prior week (March 6th) was little changed at 3.0% with an 18,000 decrease to 4.124M.  The 4-week moving average dropped to 4,255,500, a decrease of 99,000 from the previous week's revised average. The number of those claiming benefits in all unemployment programs continued in a downward trajectory, as the week ending February 27 figures came in at 18.26M, a decrease of 1.9M over the previous week.