''Retail sales rose 0.7% in November from a month earlier, the sharpest increase since June, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The gain reflected a surge in auto sales to a six-year high, though a wide range of retailers reported rising sales. Commerce also revised upward October's retail sales increase to 0.6% from 0.4%.
November retail sales were up 4.7% from the same period a year earlier.
The healthy jump in November sales signals a strong start to the crucial holiday shopping season, which accounts for a substantial share of retailers' earnings. The retail gains, along with other data showing rising confidence and accelerating job growth, offer hope that American consumers—who account for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic output—could be finding a more solid footing.
The pickup could give Federal Reserve officials more confidence to start reducing their $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program, which is designed to hold down interest rates and spur economic growth. Fed officials have said they expect to start reducing the purchases in the "coming months." They meet next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hopes for a pickup in the recovery still could be dashed, as they have been so many times since the economy exited recession more than four years ago. Recent data haven't been uniformly positive. Retail sales during the Thanksgiving weekend actually fell from a year earlier, according to early reports from the sector's trade group.
Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at consultancy MFR Inc., cautioned that the recent pickup in consumer spending might just reflect some purchases that were delayed over the summer, when spending growth slowed. "We think this represents more of a correction of some past underperformance than the start of a fundamental, sustained acceleration," he said''.
From: WSJ
