The looming year-end government shutdown at the end of 2018 showed up in economic numbers released today for the month of December; the data was delayed due to the shutdown which began during the month and lasted over 30 days, making it the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

The value of retail sales dropped 1.2% from the previous month of 2018. Sales in November were revised downward 0.1% as well. Most surveys called for a small gain in December. The drop was the most since 2009.

The U.S. producer price index, or PPI, fell 0.1% while estimates were looking for a similar gain of 0.1%

U.S. weekly Jobless claims for December rose to 239,000 versus an estimate of 225,000.