April Retail Sales Fall 0.2%

Retail sales fell 0.2% in April, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The decline followed a revised 1% gain in March and was below economists’ forecasts of a 0.4% gain, Bloomberg reported.

Sales excluding automobiles and gasoline fell 0.2%, Commerce said.

Department store sales fell 2.1%, the most since November 2002.

Filling station sales rose 1.7% following a 3.2%, as fuel prices remained high, Commerce said.

Almost all trucking operations depend on the health of retail sales because such sales involve nearly every type of cargo.