December retail sales drop 0.3 percent from November

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

I assume the snowstorm played a role in this, but it's still not a good number. Retail sales are supposed to be highest in December, for obvious reasons.

December retail sales drop 0.3 percent
Retail sales drop 0.3 percent in December as sales for all of 2009 plunge by record amount

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales fell in December as demand for autos, clothing and appliances all slipped, a disappointing finish to a year in which sales had the largest drop on record.
...

The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales declined 0.3 percent in December compared with November, much weaker than the 0.5 percent rise that economists had been expecting. Excluding autos, sales dropped by 0.2 percent, also weaker than the 0.3 percent rise analyst had forecast.
...

For the year, sales fell 6.2 percent, the biggest decline on records that go back to 1992. The only other year that annual sales fell was in 2008, when they slipped by 0.5 percent.
...

The December drop in sales was a surprise given that the nation's big retailers had reported better-than-expected results last week, reflecting a surge of last-minute holiday shopping. But even with the rebound reported by the nation's biggest chains, these retailers suffered their worst annual performance in more than four decades in 2008, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/December-retail-sales-drop-03-apf-3350007934.html?x=0&.v=9

[grasswire]

1. and the newspapers just told people sales were up

I was surprised. I guess it was the biggest retailers that had some success.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. Same experience here... I was expecting different based on TV chatter

It's almost as if there's a broad media conspiracy to say everyone is going crazy Christmas shopping so everyone will get caught up in the spirit.

But why? The fact that media is funded primarily by advertising for consumer goods couldn't have anything to do with it...

And of course they do those "shopping stampede" stories on the news the day after Thanksgiving every year because people going to Walmart really is the biggest news of the day.

[napi21]

3. Is anybody surprised by this? As long as I can remember,

sales are always down overall in Jan, Feb, Mar. Holiday shopping is over. Some New Year resolutions to spend less & pay off CCd's are still being kept. Even some "I'm going o lose weight this year" promises are still being kept. It's no ig deal and means nothing.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. The sales figure is for December

[DCBob]

4. I hope we never go back to hyper-consuming and over-spending...

The world would better off, long term, if we moderated our buying habits down a bit. IMHO.