FRANKFURT - VOLKSWAGEN, the biggest European car maker, said Friday its sales dropped by 16.5 per cent in November from the same month last year, a sign that it too had been caught by the global economic slowdown.

Unit sales came to 447,000 vehicles, a statement said.

WASHINGTON - WHOLESALE prices sank in November for the fourth month in a row, raising fresh fears that they'll keep on dropping and lead to a dangerous bout of deflation.

The Producer Price Index, which tracks costs of goods before they reach consumers, fell 2.2 per cent last month as prices for gasoline and other energy prices retreated, the Labour Department reported on Friday.

WASHINGTON - CONSUMERS cut back on spending at retail stores for a record fifth straight month in November amid a recession that is already the longest in a quarter-century.

The Commerce Department says retail sales dropped 1.8 per cent last month. The decline, which was slightly below the 1.9 per cent dip that had been expected, was the fifth straight monthly drop, a stretch of weakness never before seen on the government's retail sales records.