Consumer spending fell for the third consecutive month in December, confirming what many economists had predicted would be a disappointing holiday season for many retailers and restaurants, the New York Times reported. Retail sales fell 0.7 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday, as the economic recovery showed signs of stalling and virus cases surged across the country, prompting shoppers to avoid stores amid a new wave of restrictions. For the second straight month, the drop was worse than what most economists had predicted, showing that the deterioration of the broader economy in the final quarter of 2020 was deeper than expected. The drop was widespread across many categories, including electronics, autos, and food and beverage stores, which had been areas of strong spending last spring and summer but declined toward the end of the year. Spending at restaurants in December was down again amid a rise in new cases and closures. The decline most likely also reflects how retailers’ strategies of offering holiday deals early in the fall spread out the holiday shopping season across months, and may have dampened sales closer to Christmas. The Commerce Department also revised its November sales data, showing a decline of 1.4 percent, larger than the 1.1 percent drop it had previously reported.
