Consumer spending beat April forecast
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Renita Jablonski: Overall retail figures out this morning from the Commerce Department suggest consumer spending is more resilient than many analysts anticipated. Marketplace’s Dan Grech explains.
Dan Grech: Auto sales were off nearly 3 percent in April. Excluding that, retail sales were actually up half a percent last month, well above most predictions. Joe Skorupa edits RIS News, a retail industry publication. He says the economic slowdown so far has hit Wall Street far harder than Main Street.
Joe Skorupa: The perfect storm for retail sluggishness can really be seen in layoffs. Until we see unemployment spiking up 3 and 4 percent, I don’t expect to see a consumer spending dip until that happens.
This month, the Bush administration started sending out checks as part of its economic stimulus package. That’s $100 billion that retailers are hoping will juice sales in May.
I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.
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