WASHINGTON—Americans cut back sharply on retail spending last month as the holiday shopping season began with high prices and rising interest rates forcing families, particularly lower income households, to make harder decisions about what they buy.
Retail sales fell 0.6 percent from October to November after a sharp 1.3 percent rise the previous month, the government said Thursday. Sales fell at furniture, electronics, and home and garden stores.
Americans’ spending has been resilient ever since inflation first spiked almost 18 months ago, but the capacity of Americans to continue spending in a period of high inflation may be beginning to ebb. Inflation has retreated from the four-decade high it reached this summer but remains elevated, enough to erode the spending power of Americans. Prices rose 7.1 percent in November from a year ago….