Retail sales dip for second time in 2 months

from AP, via Yahoo!



AP
Retail sales dip for second time in 2 months
Tuesday May 13, 12:44 pm ET
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
Retail sales down by 0.2 percent in April; auto sales down substantially


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumers, battling soaring gasoline prices and a slumping economy, cut back further on their spending in April.
The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that retail sales dipped 0.2 percent last month, right in line with economists' expectations.

It was the second drop in the past three months and was led by a 2.8 percent decline in auto sales, the biggest setback in this category in 10 months. It reflected the problems that automakers are having as a weak economy and soaring gasoline prices cut into demand for new cars.

Excluding autos, retail sales rose by 0.5 percent, a better performance than had been expected as sales at general merchandise stores, a category that includes big chains such as Wal-Mart, posted a 0.5 percent increase, much better than the tiny 0.1 percent rise in March.

However, sales at department stores were down 0.1 percent, indicating that tough economic times may be pushing people to seek out bargains at giant discount stores.

In other economic news, the Commerce Department said that business inventories edged up a tiny 0.1 percent in March, the smallest advance in a year and another sign of the weakening economy.

The small inventory rise was below the 0.4 percent increase that many economists were expecting and was an indication that businesses are holding back on adding to their stockpiles in the face of slowing demand. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080513/economy.html