Quiksilver's weaker results hit the stock

American consumers didn’t go shopping much in October, but

they made up for it in November, reported ‘MarketWatch’. Retail sales rose 0.3 percent last month after declining 0.3percent in October, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast 0.4 percent increase.

Sales were more than twice as strong if a big decline in spending at gas stations is factored out. Some of the spending that might have taken place in October was pushed into November because of Hurricane Sandy, economists say. Still, the trend in retail sales can hardly be called strong. Retail spending has climbed 3.7 percent in the past 12 months, a pace consistent with a U.S. economy expanding at about 2 percent a year.

“All in all, consumers are holding up reasonably well despite soft labor market conditions that are holding down growth in earnings and, in turn, personal income,” said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp.

Corporate news were led by Quiksilver Inc., which stock fell in after-hours trading after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results. The surf and streetstyle fashion retailer’s shares were off about 16 percent to a market value of 670.3 million dollars.

Quiksilver reported net income of four million dollars for the quarter ended Oct. 31. That’s down from 68 million dollars in the year-ago period. Excluding charges, the company’s fourth-quarter income was 13 million dollars. Analysts on average expected a profit of 17.8 million. Quiksilver’s fourth-quarter revenue was 559 million dollars, up 3 percent from a year earlier.

In London, Julian Dunkerton, CEO of SuperGroup, said there had been a “misunderstanding” about the decline in profits and it had “literally nothing to do with actual trading,” reported ‘The Telegraph’. SuperGroup, which owns the Superdry brand, reported a 31.5 percent decline in half-year pre-tax profits to 13.9 million pounds after exceptional items.