Retail sales data represents total consumer purchase from retail stores. Itprovides valuable information about consumer spending which makes up theconsumption part of GDP. The most volatile components like autos, gas prices andfood prices are often removed from the report to show more underlying demandpatterns as changes in sales in these categories are frequently a result ofprice changes. It is not adjusted for inflation. Spending on services is notincluded.Rising retail sales indicate stronger economic growth. However, if theincrease is larger than forecast, it may be inflationary.