Retail Sales Increase at Slower Rate Despite Higher Inflation

Consumers continued to spend at record levels in November, although the month-over-month pace of sales growth slowed to its lowest level since the summer. The U.S. Census Bureau announced that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food service sales were $639.8 billion for November, an increase of just 0.3% from October, but 18.2% higher than the depressed sales figure from a year ago.