{"id":10596,"date":"2015-03-12T16:54:22","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T21:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=10596"},"modified":"2015-03-12T17:12:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T22:12:34","slug":"retail-sales-decline-for-three-months-straight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/retail-sales-decline-for-three-months-straight\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail sales decline for three months straight"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yasufumi Saito<\/p>\n

U.S. retail sales dropped unexpectedly for the third consecutive month in February, most likely due to consumer prudence and bad weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[field name=”retailsales”]<\/p>\n

February retail sales decreased 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted $437 billion from January, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday<\/a>. Retail sales dipped 0.8 percent in January and 0.9 percent in December.<\/p>\n

The result fell short of the Wall Street\u2019s estimate of a 0.3 percent increase compiled by Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a reflection of the harsh winter conditions,\u201d said Michelle Girard<\/a>, chief economist at RBS Securities Inc., \u201cand not necessarily a reflection of fundamental weakening in consumer spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers have plenty to spend when the weather improves,\u201d Girard added.<\/p>\n

But people interviewed on Michigan Avenue in Chicago have different views.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGas prices are cheaper but food prices are higher,\u201d said Elise Gorun, a retired resident of Chicago, noting that gas savings aren\u2019t enough to help her budget. \u201cEverything else goes up. I\u2019m on a fixed income, so I don\u2019t have a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economy is unfortunately improving more for the upper class, as opposed to the middle class,\u201d claimed Lynn Nealis, concierge living in Downtown. \u201cI do think that people who have money are making more money with the stock market going up, but people in the middle are kind of stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a positive sign was also heard. \u201cWe\u2019re saving right now for the summer,\u201d said Jon Norton, who works for the city of Chicago, \u201cand you know, maybe take a little bit nicer vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n

[field name=”retailsales2″]<\/p>\n

In February, consumers spent less money on auto dealers, electronics, building materials and even restaurants than they did in January, whereas sales at gasoline stations, sporting goods stores and nonstore retailers, which include online retailers, modestly increased.<\/p>\n

For the three months from December to February, retail sales declined 1.2 percent, compared with the three months from September to November<\/p>\n

Photo at top:\u00a0Retail stores aren’t benefitting from the decline in gasoline prices. (Yasufumi Saito\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yasufumi Saito U.S. retail sales dropped unexpectedly for the third consecutive month in February, most likely due to consumer prudence and bad weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":10598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nRetail sales decline for three months straight - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/retail-sales-decline-for-three-months-straight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retail sales decline for three months straight - 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