Lower retail sales in November

Thomson Reuters reports that November sales in the U.S. were about breakeven with last year’s November sales. Unfortunately November 2008’s sales were 7.8% below those of November 2007’s sales. Ouch! In other words, retailers are hemorrhaging. Additionally, the day after Thanksgiving results, alias Black Friday (what a stupid name), were 7.9% below last year’s very tepid results. Double ouch!

What this means:

The U.S. consumer is not spending much money. The only retailers doing well are the discounters. This does not bode well for a strong ‘consumer spending’ portion of GDP for the fourth quarter.

An observation:

Various media this morning are reporting these numbers, but you have to dig to get the specifics of them. As investors we always have to root in facts, not media hype. Last year the media were overly pessimistic when the next Great Depression was about to ensue. Now the reverse is true, there seems to be a desire to sensationalize an economic recovery. That recovery remains slightly better than anemic.

Jason