Cue Gomer Pyle.
The consumer is alive and well. In fact the consensus for consumer sales was for a paltry 0.6% and it came in at 1.1% with prior revisions being moved up rather than down leaving even Rick Santelli somewhat speechless with nothing to complain over in the details. This proving once again that all the fear mongering about allowing temporary tax breaks to expire and dreaded sequestration cuts would kill the consumer were an outright fallacy. If used to influence votes in Congress and you'd think at some point those men and women would learn how to play the game.
In fact this release could prove to be a game changer from a chartist point of view if the trend continues higher. While some may remain nonbelievers, we have Easter purchasing as well as Spring dead ahead which can do nothing but boost spending further. Bring it!
What a shocker people still need to eat and last time I looked, small children continue to outgrow shoes and clothing requiring new. We all still needed fuel to drive to work. I guess bicycles aren't flying off the showroom floor. I haven't noted any huge increase in sewing machine sales anywhere with the impoverished forced to make their own clothing nor are people flocking to become share croppers that I'm aware of. Certainly consumer discretionary will take it on chin with fewer furniture and auto sales postponed but come on now, you have to admit it's encouraging. To coin an old phrase "a girl's gotta eat" and yes, the consumer clearly still has a pulse.
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