Lousy retail sales report sends stocks lower
January 14, 2009 at 11:59 am by Wayne GarciaThe NYT reports:
The government reported on Wednesday that retail sales fell for a sixth consecutive month in December, as Americans holstered their credit cards and cut back on spending, even as stores offered discounts of 80 percent to entice shoppers.
Sales at department stores, restaurants, gas stations and a host of other retail businesses fell 2.7 percent last month — nearly double what economists had been expecting — and were 9.8 percent lower than sales last December, the Commerce Department reported.
The full report in .pdf.
