Retail sales up in December as 2011 sees largest annual increase in decade

Posted on January 12, 2012

Retail sales barely rose in December, but the gain was enough to push sales to a record level for 2011. It was the largest annual increase in more than a decade.

The Commerce Department said Thursday sales edged up 0.1 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted $400.6 billion. It was the second straight month that sales have topped $400 billion. Never before had monthly sales reached that level.

The government revised the November performance to show a stronger 0.4 percent gain, double the original estimate. That pushed sales in November to $400.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis.

For all of 2011, sales totaled a record $4.7 trillion, a gain of nearly 8 percent over 2010. It was the largest percentage increase since 1999.