Check out the falling sales.
 
The Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales fell 0.6 percent instead of rising in February like analysts had forecast.
 
In the latest sign of what could be a recession, consumers cut back on a wide range of purchases, including autos furniture, electronics, building materials, food and gasoline when compared with January.
 
And compared with February 2007, department stores saw a 4 percent drop in sales. That’s not a drop in stores open at least a year. That’s total sales, the latest sign of how hard that sector has been hit by the struggling U.S. economy.
 
“This is continued sign that the consumer is retrenching, we are seeing the housing wealth effects kick in, and the soft stock market. We have seen households wealth portfolio drop, and it looks like it is affecting consumer spending,” said Rudy Narvas, senior analyst at 4CAST Ltd.
 
The report comes a week after many stores reported weak same-store sales for February and as retailers wrap up reporting earnings for a fourth-quarter that really saw the weak economy take its toll.
 
As an example, on Wednesday, Men’s Wearhouse said profit fell nearly 72 percent in the quarter and it is expecting a challenging year ahead.
 
Also in the basket:
 
Revlon’s makeup Test (Wall Street Journal)

Target in talks to sell some credit card assets

(Photo: Reuters)