U.S Retail Sales Fall By Record Amount

Friday November 14, 2008
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The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that retail sales for the month of October fell by the largest amount since they started keeping score.

According to the Commerce Department, advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for October, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $363.7 billion.

This translates into a decline of 2.8% from September to October. If automobile sales are not factored in, the decline was 2.2%

Economists had been looking for retail sales with the sales of automobiles factored out, to show a decline of 1.0% from September and a decline of 1.9% with auto sales included.

This portends more bad news for the economy, as it shows that consumer spending, which makes up the bulk of the U.S economy, continues to slow and to do so at an alarming rate.

Tags: Retail Sales  Economy