Retail sales fell 0.4% in December, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
Sales excluding automobiles also fell by 0.4%, Commerce said.
The decline was the first since June and finished the weakest year since 2002, Bloomberg reported.
For the year, retailers posted a 4.2% sales increase, the smallest in five years, Bloomberg said. Sales rose 5.9% in 2006.
Economists had forecast no change in sales levels, Bloomberg reported.
Almost all trucking operations depend on the health of retail sales because such sales involve nearly every type of cargo.
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