Recent snowstorms good for retail sales

[Subdivisions]

Seems blizzards are now good for retail sales, rather than the other way around we used to know so well...

Red comment mine

February's cross-country snowstorms couldn't freeze out consumers as retail sales rose 0.3 percent for the month, according to government data released Friday.

The increase was higher than many analysts had expected (There's that "unexpectedly" we hear with almost every single economic report these days.) considering that almost every state had snow on the ground at one time last month. An analysis of February foot traffic at shopping centers by research firm ShopperTrak found that attendance slipped during the snowstorms but picked up significantly immediately afterward. The month's solid results bolstered some economists' view that consumer spending has regained its footing.

"Maybe they've loosened the belt a notch or two," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services Group. "I think we have seen a turn."

...snip...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031201499.html?hpid=sec-business

Isn't that nice. Snow-blizzards are now good for business. Oh and, by the way, remember the super-duper unexpectedly good number for January which was reported as an increase of 0.5% in retail sales? That http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/03/retail-sales-increase-in-february.html">has been revised down to 0.1%. Gee, wonder how over-stated Feb's 0.3% increase will be revised down...

[AllentownJake]

1. Feb number almost equals the original Jan reported number

They are getting fucking sloppy or lazy, I can't figure out which.

[Greybnk48]

2. I HATE being referred to as a "consumer"

It brings up images of the clones in 1984 who's raison d'etre wasto consume.

Sorry for the attitude. I'm cranky tonight.

[femmocrat]

3. It had to be all those generators sold in the northeast.

:eyes:

[FarCenter]

4. There must have also been a lot of cash transactions

Anybody who had a pickup with a blade could make a little extra cash. This is unlikely to show up in any government statistics.