Posted on 01/14/2010 6:12:12 AM PST by andy58-in-nh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell in December as consumer spent less on vehicles and an array of other goods during the holiday shopping month, data showed on Thursday, raising concerns about the durability of the economy's recovery.
The Commerce Department said total retail sales fell 0.3 percent last month, the first decline in three months, after rising by an upwardly revised 1.8 percent in November. Sales in November were previously reported to have increased 1.3 percent.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales gaining 0.5 percent last month.
Compared to December 2008, sales rose 5.4 percent, but fell 6.2 percent for the whole of 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Didnt unemployment claims rise unexpectedly today too?
a lot of the big cities on the east coast were socked in by a blizzard the weekend before Chistmas- it sure affectd my shopping
This shoots down the good Christmas report that came out by merchants.
Retailers have no one to blame but themselves. There has been little new inventories in the stores I shop in since the end of August.
Too early to play a drinking game!
Cant they hold this news off until 7pm?
none of this was “unexpected” it is by design. Massive unemployment, wealth destruction of the citizenry, Energy shortages are next, then food shortages, and finally Government control of every facet of your life.
Unexpectedly?! That’s funny.
” ... and finally Government control of every facet of your life.”
Most of the sheeple in this blue part of Ohio are signed up and ready for it. They’ll welcome it, because they’ve been taught in public schools that the government is wise and fair, and can do almost anything.
Unemployment claims also were up... unexpectedly.
The reason that store inventory is limited is because those stores have been reluctant to purchase goods whose sales are highly speculative, especially in the face of falling consumer credit demand. Inventory is a form of waste.
My wife works for a "big box" retailer popular here in the SE USA. She handles the inventory for the men's department. They started inventory reduction over a year ago. She tells me they have been directed by their management to add display tables and such to make the store look fuller, even though there is about half to two thirds the inventory on the floor compared to a couple of years ago.
But wait. What percentage of sales were actually saved by the Zero Administration?
Your wife’s experience comports with my own. I’m a business analyst (and paid, among other things, to notice such things). Every big box chain store I’ve been in during the past year (including WalMart, BestBuy and Target) has dramatically reorganized its sales space. The paradigm has shifted from “supermarket” to “boutique”; from tightly-spaced and vertically-stacked aisles to wide open spaces populated by horizontal displays. They have also noticeably reduced the number of brands they carry as well as the range of models or varieties.
According to Obama: all of them.
Ah, where’s the NTSA face-palm guy?
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