02-15-2006, 10:05 AM
Quote:Consumers, lured to the malls by unusually warm weather and eager to spend their Christmas gift cards, boosted retail sales by a much larger than expected amount in January with sales outside of autos surging at the fastest pace in six years. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales excluding autos were up 2.2 percent in January, the best showing in this category since late 1999.
"Warm weather and consumers' willingness to spend every penny they have led to a huge increase in retail sales," said Joel Naroff, head of Naroff Economic Advisors. "Households may be tapped out and dipping into savings and wealth, but that still hasn't slowed them down one bit."
full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/suqLQOAH...uary.xhtml