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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Retail sales up in April

Price-conscious shoppers pushed retail sales to their highest level in more than a year last month, but the numbers didn’t impress economists who are focused on rising oil prices and the struggling housing market. “This report gives us some evidence that the downturn in consumer spending is likely to be relatively mild, which is good news,” said Ross DeVol, director of regional economics at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “It does not suggest that it will allow us to avoid a recession.” Although the federal tax rebates that have begun flowing to about 117 million American households could help fuel spending over the next few months, the strength, or weakness, of the second half of the year will probably be linked to how high oil prices climb and whether the housing market finds its bottom. For the full story visit http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retail9-2008may09,0,3857331.story

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