Bad economic news: Retail sales, jobs

Here is some surprising news: Many large retailers were stating Christmas sales were up, but retail sales actually declined by 0.3 percent in December. That gives more credence to the belief that the recovery from the recession will be a slow one.

As for 2009, retail sales fell an astounding 6.2 percent.

First time unemployment claims were up last week, there were 444,000 initial claims, compared to 433,000 for the prior week.

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