WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Retail sales in the United States declined 0.3 percent in December, much weaker than a gain of 0.5 percent economists had expected, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

    Last month, auto sales declined 0.8 percent. Compared with December 2008, sales were up 5.4 percent. Excluding autos, the retail sales in December rose 5.2 percent.

    Sales for all the 2009 declined 6.2 percent compared with 2008,the largest decline since 1992. It was only the second decline on record.

    Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity, is the broad measure of U.S. economic activity.