Retail sales forecast

NEW YORK

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, forecasts that retail sales should grow between 3.8 percent and 4.4 percent to more than $3.8 trillion this year as shoppers remain in the mood to spend in a strong economy and job market.

The forecast, released Tuesday, is nearly in line with the 4.6 percent gain the group preliminarily estimated for 2018 pending the release of December data from the Commerce Department that was delayed because of the government shutdown.

The NRF expects the overall economy to gain an average of 170,000 jobs per month, down from 220,000 in 2018 and that unemployment will drop to 3.5 percent by year-end.

It said that gross domestic product is likely to increase about 2.5 percent over 2018.

Staff/wire reports