WSJ: Retail Sales Tumbled in September As Producer Prices Fell on Cheaper Oil
WASHINGTON -- U.S. retail sales took the sharpest drop in three years during September as a weak job market and the credit crunch scared consumers and slowed the big engine of the economy.
Separately, falling energy prices triggered a second-straight large drop in U.S. wholesale prices last month, a government report showed, though a surprising rise in core prices that exclude food and energy may stoke fears that past inflation gains have become entrenched in the economy.
Retail sales dived by 1.2% last month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
It was a broad decrease and the third drop in a ...
