December Retail Sales Higher Than 2008

Washington, DC, Jan. 14, 2009--U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% in December from November on weakness across different kinds of stores, the Commerce Department said.

The decline was unexpected, as economists were forecasting a 0.5% gain.

Auto sales fell 0.8% in dollar terms even as the automakers reported higher unit sales.

Excluding the 0.8% decline in auto sales, retail sales fell 0.2%.

Bad weather during the month likely depressed sales. Perhaps in reaction to the storms, non-store sales, such as online and catalog sales, rose 1.4%.

Sales in October and November were revised up, softening the shortfall in December. November's sales were revised to a 1.8% gain from the 1.3% previously reported. October's sales were revised up a tenth point to 1.2%

Compared with December 2008, sales were up 5.4%. Excluding autos, December sales were up 5.2% from a year earlier.

Sales for all of 2009 fell 6.2% compared with 2008 to $4.14 trillion, the largest decline on record.