But...but...we're in a recession...and..and the economy's bad...and Bush is evil..."U.S. May retail sales up...largest g

[SDGuy]

"Overall retail sales rose 1.0 pct in May, double the expectation of a 0.5 pct gain economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters IFR Markets had predicted. That is the largest monthly gain since November.

Across the board gains come on the heels of higher spending in April than earlier thought. April retail sales were revised to a 0.4 pct increase after last month's preliminary estimate that sales in April declined 0.2 pct. Retail sales have risen 2.5 pct in the past twelve months.

Stripping out auto sales, retail sales in May were also stronger than expected, rising a robust 1.2 pct, also the largest gain since November. Sales in the category rose 1.0 pct in April. Economists had expected sales excluding autos to rise 0.7 pct in the month. Retail sales excluding autos have risen 4.9 pct in the past year.

Excluding gasoline, retail sales rose 0.8 pct in May after increasing by 0.4 pct in April.

Excluding both gasoline and autos, retail sales rose 1.0 pct in May after rising 1.1 pct in April.

Auto sales rose 0.3 pct in May after falling 2.1 pct in April. Sales at gasoline stations rose 2.6 pct in the month.

Building supply store sales rose 2.4 pct in May, while sales at electronics and appliance stores rose 0.7 pct in the month.

Clothing store sales rose 0.5 pct in May, while department store sales rose 0.8 pct. Furniture store sales rose 0.4 pct in the month."

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/fee...08982.html

[Dennis S]

Whoopty-friggin;-do. That balances out hundreds of thousands of people killed for no reason and a 9 TRILLION dollar debt and a torn-up Constitution. Happy days are here again!

[cbelt3]

All you see is where the Federal Bribe ™ went. And it's all gone happily to china now (unless you bought Hookers and Booze), so wait for July's results. Baaaaaad.

[Dennis S]

"Retail sales excluding autos have risen 4.9 pct in the past year."

And, crime is down, if you don't include murders. - Marion Barry?

[MacMagus]

Wow!

Give people $1200 dollars and they go out and BUY stuff.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/busine....html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

If only the government would give everyone $1200 dollars every month then we wouldn't have all of this depressing recession talk!!

[maco]

I'm still trying to figure out where the stimulus check $$$'s are coming from, especially since we have such a huge national debt already.

[JoeH]

[quote maco]I'm still trying to figure out where the stimulus check $$$'s are coming from, especially since we have such a huge national debt already.
Basically they gave most of us a bit of cash and the equivalent of a long term loan that we and our children will be paying off over the next few decades. Partly through taxes and partly through inflation and depreciation of the dollar.

[TLB]

[quote maco]I'm still trying to figure out where the stimulus check $$$'s are coming from, especially since we have such a huge national debt already.
Funny money. Stupid feel good placebo paid with more debt, lowering the value of the greenback and making us more beholden to the Chinese. All to generate feel good numbers like these, rather than weathering the down turn and fixing bad policies and poor decisions.

[Grateful11]

Is this in actual dollar amounts or number of items sold? The price of nearly everything is
up so the dollar amounts almost have to go up but volume could still be down.

[Lux Interior]

Whew!


I guess the $ is on par with the € now, too?


What?