US retail and food services activity was largely unchanged in December 2025, although most major segments recorded higher takings than a year earlier.
Data from the US Census Bureau showed sales of $735bn, little different from November and 2.4% above December 2024.
Across the full year, receipts rose 3.7%, while the October–December quarter delivered a 3% year-on-year increase.
The bureau left the October-November monthly rise unchanged at 0.6%.
Retail trade alone was also broadly flat from November 2025 but climbed 2.1% compared with the prior year.
Online-focused operators led the gains, with non-store retailers up 5.3%, while food services and drinking places increased by 4.7%.
Among physical outlets, health and personal care stores advanced 7% year-on-year, clothing and accessories improved by 5.5%, and miscellaneous retailers posted a 9.2% rise.
Food and beverage outlets grew by 2.4%, including a 2.7% increase at grocery stores, while motor vehicle and parts dealers recorded a 3.9% growth.
By contrast, gasoline stations reported a 1.4% annual decline, and sales at building material and garden equipment suppliers fell 1.3%, alongside department stores.
Electronics and appliance retailers edged up 0.8%, furniture and home furnishings gained 2.3%, sporting goods and book shops rose by 2.5%, and general merchandise outlets increased 2.0%.
The bureau said the figures are seasonally adjusted for holiday and trading-day effects. However, they exclude price changes and are based on early responses to the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey, with further information on sampling variability and later revisions set out in its statistical tables.
In a separate release from Germany, provisional data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed retail turnover in real terms increased 2.7% in 2025 from the previous year.
Growth reached 3.8% in the first half before easing to 1.7% in the second half.
Officials linked part of the early rise to a one-off factor connected to the restructuring of a major internet and mail-order group in August 2024, which brought transactions into Germany’s official statistics that had not previously been captured.
