US retail sales declined by 1.3 percent in February resulting mainly from a sharp drop of auto sales, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday.

The drop in U.S. retail sales in February was even larger than the 0.8 percent decline forecasted by Wall Street and marked the first decline in retail demand since August 2005.

The report showed that sales of motor vehicles and parts dropped 4.6 percent last month, also the biggest drop since August 2005, after a 4.2 percent surge in January.

Excluding the sometimes volatile category of automobiles, retail sales were down 0.4 percent, slightly better than the 0.5 percent decline expected on Wall Street.

The decline of U.S. retail sales in February followed a revised sharp gain of 2.9 percent in the previous month.

Consumer spending is closely watched because it accounts for two-thirds of total U.S. economic activity and retail sales account for about an half of the consumer spending in the country.

Source: Xinhua