US retail sales unexpectedly plunged in March in a broad-based fall that countered recent signs of improvement in the slumping economy.
The US Census Bureau announced that advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for March, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $344.4 billion, a decrease of 1.1 percent from the previous month and 9.4 percent below March 2008. Total sales for the January through March 2009 period were down 8.8 percent from the same period a year ago. The January 2009 to February 2009 percent change was revised from -0.1 percent to +0.3 percent.
Retail trade sales were down 1.1 percent) from February 2009 and 10.7 percent (±0.7%) below last year.
Gasoline stations sales were down 34.0 percent from March 2008 and motor vehicle and parts dealers sales were down 23.5 percent from last year.
The big decline in March sales was a disappointment. The increases in January and February sales had ended a straight run of declines in consumer spending during the second half of 2008. There was hope of an easing of the recession as consumer spending accounts for about 70 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product), the key measure of economic output.
President Obama will give an economic speech Tuesday at Georgetown University as his administration nears its 100-day symbolic mark. Aides said the address will be a major one but acknowledged that it was expected to contain no significant policy announcements.
Also Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke provided some hope that recession may be losing its momentum, when he said he is "fundamentally optimistic" about the economy's longer term prospects.
"Recently we have seen tentative signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing," Bernanke said in remarks prepared for delivery later Tuesday in Atlanta.
