It's The Economy Stupid: Import Prices, Retail Sales

Economic Event	Period	Economic Survey	Actual Reported	Original Prior	Revised Prior
Import Price Index MoM	FEB	0.6%	1.1%	0.6%
Import Price Index YoY	FEB	-0.7%	-0.3%	-1.3%
Advance Retail Sales	FEB	0.5%	1.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Retail Sales Less Autos	FEB	0.5%	1.0%	0.2%	0.4%
Retail Sales Ex Auto & Gas	FEB	0.2%	0.4%	0.2%	0.3%
Retail Sales "Control Group"	FEB	0.2%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%

 

More good data.  All Import Price and Retail Sales data stronger then the Bloomberg survey of economists.  And the prior period numbers were revised upwards and the current period numbers were stronger than the prior period’s revised numbers. 

 

It appears that the consumer has withstood the impact of the increase of the payroll tax hike. 

 

This is good news for the economy.