The Commerce Department said Wednesday retailsales dropped by 1.2 percent last month. It was the biggest decline in three years, and almost double what experts were expecting.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department said retailsales rose in December for the sixth month in a row, driven by gains in automobile and furniture sales.
In addition to the worse-than-expected April number, the us Commerce Department revised March retailsales downwards to a decline of 1.3%, compared with a previous estimate of a 1.1% drop.