Despite pessimistic forecasts, retail sales inched up 0.1 percent in April. Core retail sales — automobiles, clothing, building materials, and other goods — rose as prices for gold and crude oil dropped.

To what extent could Bloomberg news reporters keep tabs on Bloomberg’s financial industry customers? Late Sunday night the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg apologized for a long-standing newsroom practice of allowing reporters access to some private client information it gets through its widely used financial data terminals.

The federal budget cuts known as sequestration are taking about $13 billion out of the Air Force’s budget for this fiscal year, so, the Air Force brass at the Pentagon are scrounging around for extra change, asking rank and file airmen for money-saving ideas.