Retail sales take sharpest plunge in nearly 2 years [View All]

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Consumers put away their wallets in June, sending retail sales crashing by the sharpest amount in nearly two years.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales fell by 0.9 percent last month, the biggest drop since August 2005. Demand for autos, furniture and building supplies all plunged.

The drop was much bigger than the flat reading that economists had been expecting. It raised new worries about consumer spending, which is closely watched because it accounts for two-thirds of total economic activity.

... Economists said the weaker-than-expected retail sales report called into question Thursday's big stock market surge, suggesting that investors were overly enthusiastic about an earlier report on sales by the nation's largest retail chains.

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