California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

The national retail and food sales figures for November were released by the
U.S. Department of Commerce.  The numbers showed a 12 percent increase
over the month and 6.3 percent over the year.  Total sales for November were
$385.8 billion.

The National Retail Federation forecast for November and December are characterizing
sales as the lowest in the nation in five years at only 4.0 percent. The International
Council of Shopping Centers reflect a similar forecast at four percent growth for the
combined months of November and December.

Of interest, the National Retail Federation forecasts total sales at $474.5 million
far from the numbers reported by the Census Bureau.

Growth was seen over the month in food and beverage stores, sporting goods, hobby
book and music stores. The greatest reduction was seen in department store sales
dropping from 1.0 growth in October to -0.4 percent in November.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.