U.S. Retail Spending Declined The Most Since Historic Plunge In April

U.S. retail spending declined the most since a historic plunge in April as new coronavirus surges restricted outings to stores and restaurants.

Retail sales dipped 1.1% in November compared with a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

However, retail spending — excluding food service — was still up 7.1% when compared with a year earlier, in part thanks to record-setting Black Friday and Cyber Monday online shopping sprees.

Like for much of the year, clothing and department stores as well as restaurants and bars took the biggest hits last month again. All have struggled to recover from waves of shutdowns and closures, and sales are still down heavily compared with last year.