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Retail sales sink 1.2% in December to mark biggest drop since 2009 as holiday season fizzles out

Published: Feb 14, 2019 8:34 a.m. ET

Sales fall for most retailers, delayed government report indicates
By JEFFRY BARTASH
REPORTER

Bloomberg News/Landov
The holiday shopping season turned out to be a bust, according to the government’s long-delayed report on December sales.
The numbers: Sales at U.S. retailers fizzled in December and posted the biggest decline in nine years, according to a long-delayed government report.

Retail sales sank 1.2% in December, the U.S. Census said Thursday. It’s the largest drop since September 2009, a few months after the end of the Great Recession.

Economists polled by MarketWatch expected sales to be flat.

What happened: Sales fell in every retail category except auto dealers and home centers. Auto sales rose 1% and home-center sales edge up 0.3%.

Now the bad news. Sales fell 5.1% at gas stations, but that was not unexpected. Gasoline prices have been falling since last fall.

What’s was surprising was a 3.9% reported decline in sales at Internet sellers. That would mark the sharpest drop since November 2008 — the middle of the last recession.

By all industry accounts, online merchants led by Amazon AMZN, +0.23% and eBay EBAY, +0.47% reaped big sales gains.

Less surprisingly, sales tumbled 3.3% at department stores that have been losing ground for years to mainly Internet based competitors. Traditional brick-and-mortar chains such as Macy’s M, -0.24% Kohl and Nordstrom posted disappointing sales in December.

Sales also fell at bars, restaurants, apparel stores, grocers, home furnishers, pharmacies and outlets that sell hobby items such as books and sporting goods.

Big picture: The sales slump in December is likely to weigh on the government’s official scorecard for the economy known as gross domestic product. Economists had estimated GDP would slow to 2.7% in the final three months of the year, but now that estimate could be taken down even further.

What does it mean for the economy in 2019? Hard to say. The stock market tanked in December and that may have hurt sales. At the same time, though, companies continued to hire at a strong clip in January. As long as the labor market remains healthy the economy should avoid a recession.

What does it mean for the economy in 2019? Hard to say. The stock market tanked in December and that may have hurt sales. At the same time, though, companies continued to hire at a strong clip in January. As long as the labor market remains healthy the economy should avoid a recession.

At the same time, though, companies continued to hire at a strong clip in January. As long as the labor market remains healthy the economy should avoid a recession.

Higgenbotham wrote: > Back in 2009, with the S&P 500 at 1000, this board was buzzing
> with bearish sentiment. Now, at 2750, all I hear are crickets. No
> short sellers.

aeden wrote:You and me are short a percentage to hedge.