The recession continued to cause consumers to cut back on spending in some areas of the economy, the Commerce Department reported today.

Retail sales fell .1%in February, resuming a decline after one month of increased sales in January, which followed six consecutive months of declining sales numbers. Last month's figures were 8.6% below those of February 2008.

Total retail and food sales in February were $346.8 billion, down from the revised figure of $347,191 for January.

February's numbers showed a .7% increase in non-automobile sales, but that number represented a 5% drop from February 2008.

There was a 4.3% decline in automobile sales (a 23.5% decline from February 2008).

Sales fell at building supplies stores, food stores and restaurants/bars by .02%, .7% and .2%.

The largest increases in sales were at gasoline stations, clothing stores and electronics/appliance stores, which saw sales hikes of 3.4%, 2.8% and 1.2%, respectively.

NAFCU Staff Economist Katrin O'Connor said in a statement that the data "was clearly more upbeat than those during the second half of last year as year-over-year

declines in retail sales seem to have moderated during the first two months of this year Looking forward, retailers are still bracing themselves for a difficult year but some stabilization during the second half of the year might be in sight."