Storm helps to dampen retail sales for October

WASHINGTON – Superstorm Sandy combined with cautious consumers to lower retail sales in October and raise concerns about weaker economic growth and a tepid holiday shopping season.

Consumers may also be holding back because of anxiety over big tax increases and spending cuts – known as the “fiscal cliff” – that will take effect in January unless Congress and the White House reach a budget deal by then.

Retail sales dropped 0.3 percent last month after three months of gains, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Sales at auto dealers fell 1.5 percent, the most in more than a year. The storm depressed car sales and slowed business in the Northeast at the end of the month.

Online and catalog purchases fell 1.8 percent, the most in a year.

Stocks slide as investors fret about looming ‘cliff’

NEW YORK – U.S. stock indexes fell to multi-month lows Wednesday on worries about the U.S. “fiscal cliff” and after an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip increased Wall Street’s anxiety, offsetting gains in the tech sector.

After rising 41 points and falling 213 points, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,570.95, down 185.23 points, or 1.5 percent. The third day of declines left the index at its lowest close since late June.

Of the Dow’s 30 components, only Cisco Systems Inc. remained in positive turf, up 4.8 percent after the computer-networking equipment maker beat earnings estimates, Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at Davidson Cos., wrote in an email.

– From news service reports