January Retail Sales Fall 0.4%
Retail sales fell in January by the most in a year and a half, hurt by bad weather and slow growth in employment and personal income.
Sales dropped 0.4%, the largest decrease since June 2012, the Commerce Department said Feb. 13. Poor weather and slow labor recovery in recent months made consumers less likely to shop, Bloomberg News said.
The January figure followed a 0.1% decline in December that was originally reported as a 0.2% increase. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted no change in January.
“It’s not looking good for consumer spending,” Guy Berger, an economist at RBS Securities Inc., told Bloomberg. “Even if you have some modest improvement in the pace of employment growth, that’s not enough to generate a huge improvement in income.”
Sales fell 0.9% at clothing chains, 1.5% at department stores, 0.6% at furniture stores and 1.4% at stores that sell sporting goods, books and music. Electronics stores, building materials stores, gasoline stations and grocery chains all showed improved sales in January.
