Sales at U.S. retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December as job losses and tighter credit led Americans to cut back on everything from dining out to automobile purchases, Bloomberg reported. They did buy more health and beauty products, though.

The 2.7 percent decrease was the sixth consecutive monthly drop, extending the longest string of declines in records going back to 1992, the U.S. Commerce Department said today in Washington. Purchases excluding automobiles slumped 3.1 percent.

Retail sales were projected to fall 1.2 percent after an originally reported 1.8 percent drop in November, according to the median estimate of 78 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Forecasts ranged from declines of 3.5 percent to 0.3 percent.

Sales fell 0.1 percent for all of 2008 compared with the prior year. Comparable data only go back to 1992 because government economists reformulated their retail-sales figures earlier this decade and didn’t revise historical records beyond that year.

November’s decline was revised to 2.1 percent from a previously estimated fall of 1.8 percent.

Today’s report showed declines in 11 of the 13 major categories tracked by the government, led by a 16 percent plunge at gasoline service stations that partly reflected the slump in fuel prices. The drop at grocery stores was the biggest since April 2002 and the decrease at restaurants was the largest since the terrorist attacks in September 2001.

Only health and beauty stores and a miscellaneous category saw increases last month.