Retail sales suffered an unexpectedly steep decline last month after a record fall in car sales, government data showed on Wednesday, but demand outside of autos showed the economy was strong before Katrina.
The Commerce Department said August sales fell 2.1 percent, the largest drop since November 2001, while sales excluding autos climbed a stronger-than-expected 1.0 percent. Analysts had forecast retail sales to decline 1.2 percent following July’s 1.8 percent gain.
