U.S. Retail Sales Drop in October by Most on Record (Shobhana Chandra)

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Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Retail sales in the United States dropped in October by the most on record, pushing the economy toward the worst slump in decades.

The 2.8 percent decrease is the fourth consecutive drop and the biggest since records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Purchases excluding automobiles also posted their worst performance.

Spending may continue to falter as mounting job losses, plunging stocks and falling home values leave household finances in tatters. Retailers from Best Buy Co. to Nordstrom Inc. are cutting revenue forecasts ahead of what may be the worst holiday shopping season in six years.

``Consumers are hunkering down,'' Michael Gregory, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, said before the report. ``We'll see that through the holiday season and well into next year. The fourth quarter is going to be particularly nasty.''