US Retail Sales Fall off a Cliff in October

As expected retail sales fell off a cliff in October dropping -2.8% from a lower revised September number. That is the fourth straight month of falling retail sales, a trend that has not been seen since 1974. This attest to just how tapped out the US consumer is as unemploymnet rises sharply and access to credit is much tougher.

The mainstream view is that the US economy will turn around in the second half of 2009, funnily enough if you remember, that was what was expected to happen in the second half of 2008.