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US Consumer Sentiment and the Totality of Data
If you were still worried about the weak December retail sales numbers, the rebound in consumer sentiment in February should help ease your mind. Recall that last week I questioned the relevancy of the retail sales decline given the magnitude of the decline is recessionary in nature and the economy was clearly not in recession in December. If in recession, the jobs numbers would have fallen off a cliff. What about data besides the employment report? Consumer spending had declined sharply in January before partially rebounding in February. Is there a story here? First off, the January decline was greater than one ... (full story)