Consumer spending barely rises in November

American consumers spent their money in November at the slowest rate in five months, suggesting the economy might not grow quite as fast as expected in the fourth quarter.

Sales at U.S. retailers increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in November, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Consumers gravitated toward cars and home electronics and spent less at bars, restaurants and grocery stores, government data showed.

Excluding the volatile automobile sector, sales also rose 0.2 percent. Automobile sales can swing sharply from month to month and obscure underlying retail trends.

Economists were expecting stronger sales in light of robust demand for automobiles and a record increase in spending during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, which kicks off each year with the Black Friday shopping bonanza. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected retail sales to rise by 0.5 percent overall, or by 0.4 percent excluding the auto sector.

One good weekend doesn't necessarily translate into a large increase in monthly retail sales, especially if the consumer's financial situation has remained the same, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group, a Port Washington market research firm. The early Black Friday openings -- some on Thanksgiving evening -- meant that the post-Black Friday lull occurred sooner than usual, he said. "One weekend does not a season make."

"While I am not giving up on [the holiday season] by any means, I am being realistic," Cohen said. "The consumers tapped themselves out. We didn't get raises. We didn't get bonuses . . . no stimulus checks or tax rebate or jobs program from the government."

Peter Buchanan, an economist at CIBC World Markets, called retail sales a "fairly disappointing report" that could spur some firms to cut their estimates for fourth-quarter growth. The United States is projected to grow 3 percent in the final three months of 2011 based on the latest MarketWatch forecast.

Consumer spending accounts for as much as 70 percent of U.S. economic growth.