U.S. Retail Sales Growth Will Slow to 3.4% This Year, NRF Says
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U.S. retail industry sales growth will shrink to 3.4 percent this year, hampered by the lingering housing slump, a trade group forecast.
Sales will total $2.53 trillion in 2012 after inflation helped boost growth to a greater-than-projected 4.7 percent last year, the Washington-based National Retail Federation said. The 10-year average annual growth rate was 3.1 percent, said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the trade group.