US retail sales in surprise climb

[Mugu]

news.bbc.co.uk

Sales rose by a better-than-expected 1% in May, the Commerce Department said, the largest rise since November.

It also said April's figure had been revised up to a rise of 0.4% against the previous estimate of a 0.2% fall.

Economists said the rise indicated that the economy had been given a boost by the stimulus package under which millions of Americans got tax rebates.

Core retail sales, which exclude car sales, rose 1.2%, the Commerce Department said. Analysts had predicted that retail sales would rise by 0.6% and core retail sales would grow by 0.7%



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7450991.stm">Complete article

[yourout]

1. Is the total by volume or dollars?

In case they have not noticed everything is going up in price.

[liberalmuse]

2. Meaningless in light of the housing crisis.

It makes sense that people who've had to ditch their exorbitant house payments and lose their homes can now afford to buy much less expensive retail goods.

[eShirl]

3. stimulus rebates n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Yeah, the way prices are going up, we're just damn lucky

that there's no inflation to contend with.

And by the way, anybody got a clue about what this line from the article means?: "The economy has also been hit by redundancies."

[Speck Tater]

5. If food costs more then an increase in sales is meaningless.

It just mean everyone is buying less food, but it is costing them more.

That statistic is completely bogus during rampant food price inflation.

[Dr.Phool]

6. Gas prices are included in that number.

Not really a surprise that they're up.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. The Commerce Dept also said Chocolate Rations have increased by 30 grams

I an't buying their story and the people aren't buying stuff at the store
except maybe increased prices for goods which was an inflationary increase
of 1% for the month.