Retail Sales Increase As Speculation On The US Economy Continues
Posted by Stephen Cline on February 12th, 2010The US economy is showing signs that can be said to be ‘touch and go’ at the most. On one hand, there is a lot of hype and hoopla that the economy could be recovering, which is denied by the naysayers who feel that there is still time to go before the US economy shows any signs of recovery. The January sales recorded by retailers have greatly increased and much above the anticipated sales recovery. But it seems that consumer confidence has some time to go before it climbs back to earlier levels. Household spending may be still muted in its growth, which is a matter of concern to some.
In a sense, the expansion of the US economy is being fueled by increases in business investment as well as manufacturing. This could be due to the fact that overseas demand may be picking up and inventories may be rebuilt. But when you have close to 10% of the population still unemployed, consumer confidence is bound to be at a low ebb. As such, more than 8.4 million jobs were lost in the recession and while some people may have got jobs back, there are many who seem to be quite lost in the woods and not out of the woods, as of now.
Tags: retail sales, US economy