Commerce Department: November 2011 - Retail and Food Services Sales Up .2%

December 13, 2011

U.S. retail sales rose a meager two-tenths of a percent in November, which is less than the previous month, and less than most economists expected.

Tuesday's data comes from the Commerce Department. Experts watch retail sales closely because consumer demand drives about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

November 2011 retail and food services sales were $399.3 billion, up 0.2 percent from the previous month and up 6.7 percent from one year ago. Excluding autos, retail and food services sales in November were $329.2 billion, up 0.2 percent from October and up 6.6 percent from November 2010.

Wall Street had expected retail sales to rise 0.6 percent last month.

Later Tuesday, officials of the U.S. central bank are expected to announce that they will hold the key interest rate at the ultra-low level where it has been for about three years.

The low rate is intended to bolster the troubled economy, which is plagued by high unemployment and falling housing prices.

The Federal Reserve has taken other steps to speed economic growth, such as a program intended to cut long-term interest rates with the purchases of large quantities of government bonds.

Economists surveyed by news agencies predict the Fed will not announce any new actions at this time. Sometime next year, officials are expected to outline a new program to make the central bank's messages to the market more clear and more effective.