HO HO HO….December sales, as expected, were pretty miserable:
Retail sales tumbled by 2.7% last month from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
….The producer price index, due for release Thursday, is expected to show a 2% drop in prices. Consumer prices due out Friday are expected to have declined 0.8%.
Adjusted for inflation, then, sales were down only 1.9% I’d do better if I could, but that’s about the most positive spin I can come up with.