US retail sales rose in March by the biggest amount in 18 months, led by strong gains in auto sales, the government reported Monday in the latest sign the economy was emerging from its weather-induced weakness and on track to accelerate in the second quarter. The Commerce Department said retail sales increased 1.1 percent last month, the best performance since September 2012, as receipts rose in nearly all categories. Retail sales, which account for one-third of consumer spending, had risen by 0.7 percent in February. Sales of autos and auto parts climbed 3.1 percent in March, the biggest advance since September 2012. Sales at general merchandise stores, a category that covers retailers like Wal-Mart and Target and department stores, jumped 1.9 percent, the strongest monthly gain since March 2007, before the recession. Excluding autos, retail sales were up 0.7 percent, the biggest increase in a year, after rising 0.3 percent in February. So-called core sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials, and food services, and correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product (GDP), increased 0.8 percent in March. The retail-sales data, combined with recent employment figures, suggest the economy found momentum at the end of the first quarter, following an unusually cold and snowy winter that disrupted economic activity at the end of 2013 and the beginning of the year.
