Sales at U.S. Retailers Advance by Most in Five Months
Source: Bloomberg
Sales at U.S. retailers rose in February by the most in five months as an improved job market and stronger household finances cushioned the effect of higher payroll taxes.
The 1.1 percent advance exceeded all projections in a Bloomberg survey and followed a revised 0.2 percent gain in January, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast was for a 0.5 percent advance. Sales excluding the volatile categories of autos and gasoline rose 0.4 percent.
Progress in the job market is shoring up sentiment and spurring demand at merchants including Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), easing the burden of a two percentage-point increase in the levy that funds Social Security. The boost to household wealth from home values and stock prices has also helped consumers maintain spending in the face of higher fuel prices.
It shows some steady underlying strength, said Terry Sheehan, an economic analyst at Stone & McCarthy Research in Princeton, New Jersey, the second-best forecaster of retail sales in the last two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. These numbers are cause for cautious optimism.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-13/retail-sales-in-u-s-rose-in-february-by-most-in-five-months.html
tridim
(45,358 posts)Which story is true?
KoKo
(84,711 posts)are not being restocked at Walmart and empty shelves are now the norm. It was on Tom Keen's show early morning. Last week they said "Dollar Stores" were taking share from Walmart as the Walmart customer has to "trade down." But, it was mentioned that the High End stores were doing very well, (where the 1% shop)
I noticed both my CVS and Walgreen's Drug stores have empty shelves for many products in cosmetics, cold medicines and other goods. They let the product run out before reordering so you are forced to get whatever brand wasn't the best seller or most popular.
dmallind
(10,437 posts)The analogy is identical. Walmart, however big they are, is not the sum total of US retail.
Response to Purveyor (Original post)
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