Posted on 04/14/2014 6:50:19 AM PDT by John W
WASHINGTON—A measure of U.S. consumer spending heated up in March, an early sign of accelerating economic growth this spring.
Retail sales increased 1.1% in March to a seasonally adjusted $433.9 billion, the Commerce Department said Monday. The reading was the best monthly gain since September 2012 and rose above the level of sales recorded in November, before unusually cold weather chilled spending across much of the country.
Last month's gain exceeded the 0.8% increase that economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast. February retail sales were revised up to a 0.7% gain, compared with an initially reported 0.3% improvement.
Retail sales, like the broader economy, strengthened through most of last year and reached a peak in November. Sales weakened in December and January, but now appear to be bouncing back. March retail spending was up a healthy 3.8% from a year earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
1.1% is a surge? Ask anyone (with a job) if a 1.1% raise means their paycheck surged.
What would account for strengthening consumer numbers? Salaries have been stagnant for years, job growth isn’t keeping pace with growth in working population, economic growth is anemic. Inflation?
Income Tax Refunds? EITC checks?
The GOP should run ads with film of Pelosi and Reid saying a 300,000 new jobs report during the Bush era was terrible. Now this 1% increase and 100k new jobs is trumpeted as a bull economy by the dems.
Too bad the GOP can’t be bothered to engage the Dems on a consistent basis.
I was at a local ‘Home and Garden Show’ this last weekend as a local vendor. It was interesting in many ways, we got to meet some nice people and make some contacts. Mainly though I saw that the big draw was that the Cattleman’s association was paying for the Food and Drinks.
It was the free food that brought in the people, once it was eaten and gone; so were they...
It makes a person wonder.
Hmmm...I wonder if the increase in gasoline prices had anything to do with that number???
Easter is coming, it is a late start to spring, and the winter weather caused people to do less early retail shopping, for gardening stuff, home improvement, spring clothes.
Gas is up, double what it was when The Messiah was elected, bacon is near $7 a pound; hamburger that isn't 30% fat is near $6 a pound. Steaks that I used to buy all the time are now unaffordable except when I cruise the meat aisle most mornings looking for ‘almost expired’ deals. Bread, milk, eggs all up.
Car insurance up for no reason, house insurance too. Gas, electricity and water all up. Most everything is up.
Those non essential niceties I have like cable/satellite or alarm monitoring or extra ‘plan’ phones, I dump or either threaten to dump and catch a 6-month loyalty deduction I have to restart every 6 months. Frankly, some ass hat sitting up in a high rise in NYC at the WSJ or the NYT or wherever has no idea about the cost basic staples beyond that bullshit published by this government.
Yep....when you hear most ‘common people’ talk about a refund, it is money they get for income they never made and credited as a tax they never paid. It comes from real Americans who actually pay taxes. Earned Income my ass.
It is called folks getting their tax returns back and rushing out to spend the cash.
I bought a new sofa for our living room in March. The salesman told me they had been very busy because of income tax returns. Of course I was using my own cash since I will be mailing an additional check to the IRS.
Surge.......where’s the surge in 1.1%?
My take on that is prices and inflation are surging so it’s a zero sum game.
Will have to keep an eye on April and May numbers to see if this "booming" economy is still there.
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