Retail sales worst ever

I'm not sure anyone is too surprised, but October retail sales were ugly. Really, really ugly. Total sales fell 2.8% on the month against expectations for a drop of 2.1%. Strip out autos and you get a 2.2% decline, much worse than the 1.2% forecast. In fact, the 2.8% drop was the fourth in a row -- the longest stretch of declines on record. It was also the single-largest monthly drop recorded since the Commerce Department started tracking the measure in 1992.