The rebound in retail sales is at the top of the list for thinking that the economy will weather any challenges to growth in the months ahead. Consumer spending, after all, accounts for roughly 70% of GDP, as we’ve so often been told. That implies that a robust rate of growth in retail sales is just what the doctor ordered to chase away the business cycle blues. The good news is that the headline number for retail sales certainly looks encouraging these days. But if we strip out sales at gasoline stations, the case for optimism suffers a bit.
Daily Archives: May 19, 2011
Jobless Claims Fall For 2nd Week
You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief after reading this morning’s update on initial jobless claims. There really wasn’t much room for more bad news, which makes last week sizable fall in new filings for unemployment benefits all the sweeter. Yup, we dodged a bullet here–for the second week in a row. Jobless claims are still running too high to offer much comfort, but there’s a stronger argument today in favor of seeing the recent jump in this series as a statistical blip…maybe. One week at a time here… again.