The tax bill signed into law in December with much ballyhoo has failed to bolster an area of the economy that is particularly dependent on discretionary spending.

After three months of flat or positive sales growth, the restaurant sector saw same-store sales fall 0.3% in January, according to data from industry tracker TDn2K. That’s bad news for a sector that was mired in recession until late last year, as consumers confronted higher prices for everything from rent to medical bills.

“Although January’s sales results are somewhat disappointing, we remain cautiously optimistic about the industry’s performance,” said Victor Fernandez, executive director of insights and knowledge for TDn2K. “Even if the month posted some small negative growth in sales, January’s results were better than for any other month in the February through September period last year. Furthermore, there were some extrinsic factors that added noise to the month’s results.”

These include severe winter storms, which covered swaths of the East Coast and Midwest in snow and icy conditions. New England suffered the biggest decline in same-store sales at 2.3%, while traffic fell 5.4%. For the whole of the U.S., traffic fell 3% in the month.

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The data are based on TDn2K’s tracking of weekly sales from more than 30,000 restaurant units, representing more than 170 brands and $68 billion in annual revenue.

Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors and economist at TDn2K, said tax cuts should start to boost restaurant attendance soon. “Stronger growth in the 3% range looks likely this year and into 2019 as consumers spend the extra money in their paychecks and businesses increase their capital spending,” he said.

However, the demand boost comes at a time when the economy was already humming and labor markets were tight, raising wage- and price-inflation concerns. Those concerns are widely deemed to be behind the volatility in equity markets this week, which has seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall 10% from its peak, putting it officially in correction territory.

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“Barring an unexpected market meltdown, the activity in the markets shouldn’t change the direction of growth significantly,” said Naroff. “It will be better the rest of this year, and that should lead to more spending on all types of activity, including restaurants.”

One bright spot in the January numbers was a positive performance for fine dining and upscale casual, the two segments that have outperformed for the last year. Business-related dining contributed to the climb in fine dining.

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Restaurants said that staffing is their biggest concern for 2018. With the unemployment rate falling, turnover for hourly and restaurant management employees is at a record high, according to TDn2K.

It cited a recent People Report Restaurant Recruiting and Turnover Survey that showed the hard costs of turning over hourly workers is about $2,000 on average. “With turnover rates well over 100% for most restaurant brands, the expense and disruption of business is an enormous operational cost,” said the report.

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Canaccord analyst Lynne Collier said her checks suggest same-store sales fell about 1% in January, although she too expects improvement as consumers see an increase in take-home pay.

Collier’s favorite stocks in the sector are Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. PLAY, +16.64% , BJ’s Restaurants Inc. BJRI, -2.72% and Olive Garden operator Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI, -1.80% — all rated buy.

Dave & Buster’s shares have fallen 21% in the last 12 months, while BJ’s has gained 1.4%, and Darden has gained 23%.

The S&P 500 SPX, -1.11% has gained 12% in the period, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.87% is up 18%.

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