US Retail Sales Show New Weakness
Wall Street Journal - 56 minutes ago
By JEFF BATER, WASHINGTON -- US retail sales unexpectedly plunged during March in a broad-based decrease that threw a shadow over recent signs of improvement ...
When oh when will news of this sort no longer be 'unexpected'?
Worse than expected, disappointing, etc, etc...
But instead of extending hopes of consumer confidence, Tuesday's retail sales data seemed a setback. Housing-sector sales dropped sharply in March, with furniture retailers down 1.7% and building material and garden supplies dealers sliding 0.6%.
Another sector that has weighted down the economy is cars. Year over year, auto and parts retail sales have fallen 23.5% since March 2008. March 2009 sales fell 2.3% compared to the prior month. Excluding autos, all other sales dropped 0.9% -- bigger than the 0.1% dip expected by economists
Early Q2 GDP Tracking: 1.9% to 3.6%
1 hour ago
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