“Retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in March by the most in nine months as employment slowed, showing households ended the first quarter on softer footing.
The 0.4 percent decrease, the biggest since June, followed a 1 percent gain in February, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an unchanged reading in March. Department stores and electronics dealers were among the weakest showings.
The figures may prompt economists, who are projecting consumer spending climbed in the first quarter at the fastest pace in two years, to reduce growth estimates. A pickup in hiring and bigger increases in wages will be needed to ensure any slowdown proves temporary as federal budget cuts restrain the world’s largest economy.
“Consumers are still on somewhat shaky ground,” Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco, said before the report. “We need more evidence that the spurt of activity seen early in the year is sustainable.”
Wholesale prices fell more than forecast in March as the cost of energy slumped by the most in three years, data from the Labor Department also showed today. The 0.6 percent drop in theproducer price index was the biggest since May and followed a 0.7 percent gain in the prior month….”
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