The Office for National Statistics said that sales in December were 0.1% lower than November, but clothing and food sales particularly struggled.
This survey compounds recent figures from the Office for National Statistics which revealed that retail sales in December were 0.1% lower than November.
Broadly, inflation only increased by 0.1% in December, following a 0.4% increase in November 2009.
Business inventories increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in December and were up 7.7 percent from a year earlier, compared with sales increases of 0.7 percent from November to December and 8.9 percent from a year earlier.
That rate hit 6.0% last December and economists at the Royal Bank of Scotland expect it to reach 10.0% in 2010.
Shares of Ford, which reinstated its dividend in December, crept up 0.4%.
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The composite purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing and services industries rose to 48.3 in December from 47.0 in November.
Macy's revealed Thursday that same-store for December fell 4.0%, a better result than the 5.3% drop anticipated by Wall Street.
Unemployment declined from 9.4 percent in December to 9.0 percent in January.
The implied yield on the December contract rose from 0.40% at the start of the week to 0.49% at the height of market desperation on Thursday.
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The measure for output slowed to 51.3 from 52.0 in December, while the employment index fell to 47.8 from 49, flashing a warning signal that companies are cutting jobs.
In overnight news, European stock markets and the Euro currency were firmer despite news that Euro zone retail sales fell sharply in December, at down 0.8% on the month and down 3.4% on an annual basis.
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Both gold and silver markets extended early losses to trade sharply lower in late-morning dealings Thursday, in the immediate aftermath of a reported stronger-than-expected reading from the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index in January (55.6 versus 50.0 in December).
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Based on Dow Jones Newswires' calculations, prices in the 70 cities covered by the city decreased by 0.22% on average in December from a month earlier, compared with a 0.17% decrease in November and a 0.13% increase in October.
The December CPI figures released by the government this morning indicated beer prices dropped 0.7% sequentially and 0.5% from December 2004.
Consumer spending expanded 0.2% after no gain in December, but was still lower than the expected 0.4% forecast.
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While the IOR rate has been constant at 0.25% since December 2008, the 90-day T-bill has fallen from an average of 0.14% in November 2010 (when QE2 commenced) to zero today.
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The December dollar index was up 0.091 point at 79.15 as of 12:02 p.m.
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The initial estimate of annual inflation in the euro zone fell to 2.8% in December, from 3.0% in November, in line with expectations.
Finally, the Rasumussen Employment Index fell 10.0% in December, which was the first decline in 5 months and the biggest drop since July 2009.
In the region surrounding Youngstown in northeastern Ohio, where the boom is in full swing, seismic instruments recorded nearly a dozen small quakes in 2011, with a magnitude-4.0 tremor reported December 31.
Villa manager Paul Lambert was relieved his side did not suffer a repeat of December's 8-0 defeat at Chelsea, having gone behind after just 90 seconds against United and then trailed 3-0 after 32 minutes.
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Most of the players who secured a 0-0 draw in December's two-Test series in New Zealand were retained for the four Test series against England which starts at Sabina Park in Kingston on 4 February.
The country revised up its gross domestic product figures for the October to December period to show a 0.2% increase in the quarter on annualized terms, compared to last month's initial reading of a 0.4% contraction.
In U.S. economic news, U.S. wholesale prices fell 0.1% in December, though the underlying rate, which excludes food and energy costs, rose a higher-than-expected 0.3%.
December puts at the 34.0 strike were also active on volume of 10, 000 lots today at 0.85.
Separately, December industrial output in Italy rose 0.4% on the month, but for all of 2012 output was at the lowest level since at least 1990.
Average earnings grew by 5.8% in the period from January to March, compared to 6.0% over the December to February period, as millennium bonuses began to drop out of the figures.
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