Holiday shopping off to slow start, US retail sales up 0.2%
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales rose at a modest pace in November as the holiday shopping season appeared to have a slow start. The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in November, down from 0.4% in the previous month. Healthy car sales lifted the overall figure. Excluding autos, sales ticked up just