Bloomberg reported that sales at U.S. retailers declined in January by the most since June 2012 amid bad weather and uneven progress in the labor market, signaling the economy was off to a slow start in 2014.

Bloomberg noted the 0.4% decrease followed a revised 0.1% drop in December that was previously reported as an increase, according to Commerce Department data. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for no change, Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg also said that slower employment and wage growth the last two months, along with colder-than-normal temperatures, caused American shoppers to pull back after the strongest consumer spending pace in three years in the final quarter of 2013.

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