Recovery Storyline Crushed Again By January Retail Sales

Did you know consumer confidence is at a 7 year high? Consumers have celebrated their supposed confidence by not spending money for the last two months. A critical thinking human being might ask how can an economy growing at 4% GDP, with a 5.7% unemployment rate (supposedly meaning 94.3% of people who want jobs have them), and extremely confident consumers could see retail sales have the biggest two month drop since the dreadful recession year of 2009. Luckily, there are no critical thinking human beings working in the corporate MSM and very few wandering the streets of America.

The month over month declines are dreadful as it is, especially in the discretionary spending areas. Auto sales have fallen two months in a row. Maybe they have given a subprime loan to everyone left in the country. Furniture sales plunged in January. That always happen during a housing recovery. Right? Sales at sporting goods, book, & music stores cratered for the 2nd month in a row. Department store sales crashed for the 2nd month in a row. Bye Bye JC Penney and Sears. Even online sales barely budged over the two month period. Amazon surely deserves a $200 stock price. Right?

It’s actually much worse than even the talking heads on CNBC will admit. Listen closely to see if they discuss the fact last December and January were during the dreaded Polar Vortex. Remember the paralyzing snows and cold weather. That was the excuse for shitty retail sales last year. This December and January, except for New England, have been a walk in the park. Relatively mild temperatures and not too much snow for most of the nation. The comparisons should have been a piece of cake. Instead, retail sales were only up 3.3% over last year. Considering inflation, according to the BLS, has been 1.7%, that means real retail sales only grew by 1.6% versus the dreadful POLAR VORTEX depressed sales from last year. And this is with a plunge in the unemployment rate and the skyrocketing consumer confidence. Does this chart scream recovery?

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Author: Travis Esquivel

Travis Esquivel is an engineer, passionate soccer player and full-time dad. He enjoys writing about innovation and technology from time to time.

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