The Commerce Department released Friday its report that retail sales declined more than was expected due to higher prices.

An advance monthly sales report was released to end the year. It showed a decrease of 1.9%. This is much worse than the Dow Jones prediction for a drop of 0.1%.

Except for autos, the sales declined 2.3%. That’s well below what was expected to rise 0.3%.

In addition to December’s weak numbers, November’s gain was revised downward to 0.2% from 0.3%.

The data points to an ending of a solid 2021, which saw sales rise 16.9% compared to the 2020 pandemic.

For the month of June, the consumer price index saw 0.5% growth, making it 7% year-over-year. This is the most significant increase in the past 30 years. For the first time since 2010, data has been kept for 12 months. The wholesale price rose 9.7%.

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