California Business Minute™

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

Certainly by now, most at the Commerce Department are wondering similarly to their
counterparts measuring the housing market if there is a bottom to the falling market.
For the fifth straight month, retail sales were down in November, a sign that consumer
confidence and holiday spending have been hit hard by the economic downturn.

The advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for November, adjusted for
seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were
$355.7 billion, a decrease of 1.8 percent (±0.5%) from the previous month and 7.4 percent
(±0.7%) below November 2007.
.
The hardest hit retail segments were automobiles and gasoline, in which sales were down
 25.2 percent and 22 percent, respectively, from November 2007.

Electronics and appliance stores, however, saw sales increase from October to November
to $9.23 billion from $8.97 billion, or 2.8 percent growth. The boost in electronics and appliance
sales is likely tied to aggressive Black Friday sales and hot consumer electronic products like
video game systems, flat-screen televisions, music players and mobile phones.

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