United States: Retail Sales Falter Heading into the Holidays

Retail sales fell 0.6% in November after climbing 1.3% in October. Excluding motor vehicles and gasoline, sales dropped 0.2% after rising 0.8% in October. Industrial production was 0.2% lower in November after falling 0.1% in October. US real GDP is expected to begin contracting in short order, so a drop in retail sales and industrial production isn’t all that surprising. It remains to be seen whether this continues and—more importantly—whether the labour market begins to slow dramatically as well.