Retail Sales Up 1 Percent in January

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/business/economy/13econ.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=retail&st=cse

In January Retail Sales in the United States made a small comeback with a 1% increase. Although government statistics show that over 500,000 people became jobless in America, consumers still didn't completely give up on spending money. This is the biggest increase after 6 months of declines in retail sales. During the month of January retail stores were giving deals of a lifetime. Buy one Get one Free and 50-60% markdowns were in almost every retail establishments sale. There was so much of an inventory of products left over from 2008 that retailers were forced to give products to consumers at such a cheap price. Consumers felt confident to buy products in January because they were getting a much better deal on things than in the past. These sales may be slightly hurting retail stores but it is getting consumers off their couch and giving them more confidence to go out there buy once again. Hopefully next month will produce the same results but it is not for definite. Sales could again dramatically decrease...it all depends on if consumers feel that it is safe enough to go out and buy.