Steep Slide in Business Sales: The 2.3%...

Steep Slide in Business Sales: The 2.3% drop in December was the steepest in four years, the government said. The Commerce Department said the falloff in business sales--to a seasonally adjusted $530.9 billion--compared to a 1.5% decline in November and was the steepest since a 3.1% fall in January, 1987. The report on overall sales came a day after the department said sales at the retail level continued to fall in January. The 0.9% decline in retail sales followed a 1.5% drop in December, the first back-to-back decreases in seven months.