Retail sales fell an alarming 0.9 percent in December, according to figures released by the Commerce Department yesterday. But there are mitigating factors to that little bit of bad news. Most of the drop in retail sales is a result of the drop in gas prices: Americans spent nearly $6 billion less at the pump in December than they had in December 2013.
Without the loss of gas sales, retail spending would have slipped 0.4 percent from November to December, which is still a disappointment in what has been a season of fairly good economic news. But December's retail figures - excluding gas sales - were an increase of 5.3 percent over December of 2013.
Although it seems like a huge part of our expenditures, gas station spending accounted for just 9 percent of retail spending in December. That's below autos and car parts, at 20.6 percent, food and beverage stores, at 12.8 percent, and general merchandise stores, at 12.5 percent.
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