U.S. retail sales jumped 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month declining trend and defying economists' expectations by posting the biggest increase in 14 months.
The Commerce Department says January retail sales rose a percent from December after having fallen for six straight months. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected January sales to show a drop of 0.8 percent. They plunged 2.7 percent in December, which had the weakest holiday selling season since at least 1969.
The January report shows strong increases in sales of automobiles and in general merchandise stores -- the "big box" outlets -- though sales by department stores, carrying fewer varieties of items, posted a decline. - FOX News
Uh oh Ricky, Somebody's got some splaining to do. President Obama has been preaching that unless he gets his Stimulus Bill through it is Armageddon Time. "This Crisis will become a Catastrophe" I don't know but it sure sounded alot like the President selling fear. The news that Retail sales jumped 1% is great news. The bad news is that the Economist expected it to drop nearly 1%, these are the same people who tell us the Stimulus is desperately needed.
Oh yea, GUESS WHAT? Jobless claims also dropped last week! It was only a very slight drop, but it was a drop.
The big problem is that it appears that Wall Street didn't like the thought of the President's Stimulus Bill or what the Treasury Secretary had to say as the stock market dropped almost 400 points the same day. Now today the day after they announce that they have an agreement between the House and the Senate, the Dow is down more than 200 points early.
No comments:
Post a Comment