The Commerce Department is reporting that U.S. retail sales fells a seasonally adjusted three-tenths of a percent in December, on weakness across a variety of sectors.
This surprised economists, who had expected a gain in sales.
Excluding autos, retail sales were down two-tenths of a percent.
One bright spot was catalog sales, up 1.4 percent.
Retail sales for October and November were revised upward, to a 1.8 percent gain and a 1.2 percent gain.
Retailers have seemed to be, by and large, reporting sales gains as compared to the same period last year, and as compared to December ’08, the Commerce Department retail sales measure was up 5.4 percent.
Williams-Sonoma raised its sales and profits estimates for the fourth quarter today on strength in holiday sales. The parent to its namesake stores as well as West Elm and Pottery Barn said it expects fourth quarter adjusted earnings of 69 to 74 cents per share, as compared to a prior projection of 45 cents per share. It is looking for revenue of $1.06 to $1.08 billion.
Rival company Pier 1 Imports (NYSE:PIR) in the home goods sector also has reported strength in holiday sales.
Williams-Sonoma shares are trading down about 1.3 percent early Thursday.
Also in retail today, Target (NYSE:TGT) said it is resuming its share repurchase program, after having suspended buybacks in November of 2008.
Target shares are trading a up about 1.2 percent early Thursday.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.
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