Retail Sales Down Again In May

Americans curbed their spending in May and pushed retail sales down for a second month in a row, new evidence that rising interest rates are beginning to slow the economy.

Sales at retail stores nationwide fell 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted $266 billion last month, the first back-to-back declines since July and August of 1998, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

That surprised many economists, who were predicting that retail sales actually would increase a little in May.

After a steady string of robust gains, retail sales fell 0.6 percent in April, much weaker than the government estimated. It also marked the first decline of the year.

Stocks rose as investors seized on the retail sales report as evidence that the economy is slowing just enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 57.63 to close at 10,621.84.