US retail sales fall further than expected, lower fuel prices not filtering through to spending

FXStreet (London) - US retail sales fell by 0.9 percent in December, the biggest drop since January 2014. The declines come after weaker than expected 0.4 percent growth in November.

The decline in sales reported by the US Department of Commerce significantly overshot expectations of a smaller 0.1 percent drop. Retail sales ex-autos fell by 1 percent after expectations for a flat print on November.

The fall in sales was broad-based, suggesting that US consumers are saving cash thanks to lower fuel prices rather than increasing sales.