• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 14, 2001

The Associated Press reports that September's terrorist attacks transfixed consumers, sending retail sales down by the largest monthly percentage in nearly 10 years of record keeping. The release quoted the Commerce Department saying that sales at the nation's retailers plunged 2.4% last month after posting a 0.4% increase in August. Sales fell for a wide range of products, from cars to clothing. The drop in September retail sales was the largest since the government began keeping comparable sales records at the beginning of 1992.

In the retail report, auto sales fell 4.6 percent last month. Excluding that decline, retail sales were off 1.6 percent. Necessities, though, such as groceries and gasoline, posted gains, with sales rising 0.5 percent and 3 percent

Although consumer spending stalled after the attacks, it has since rebounded, spurred in part by zero-interest financing for cars and heavy discounting on other products. Some economists took encouragement from reports that the University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence showed a rebound in mid-October with a reading of 83.4, up from 81.8 in late September.

Read more here.