Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 | 9:09 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- America's shoppers took a bit of a breather in September, dropping sales at the nation's retailers by 0.2 percent.
Although the dip in retail sales reported by the Commerce Department today was the first since April, it came after consumers went on a buying binge in July and August.
Retail sales went up by a strong 1.4 percent in July and then by 1.2 percent in August, according to revised figures. Economists were predicting that the brisk performance in retail sales registered in July and August just couldn't be maintained in September; they had forecast a sales dip of 0.1 percent.
Excluding sales of automobiles, which fell by 1.6 percent in September, sales by all other merchants went up by a modest 0.3 percent -- close to economists' forecast for a 0.4 percent increase in that category.
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