Thursday, June 13, 2013

Stocks Rally From -100+ to +100+


Stocks market rallying today (Dow up 111 so far) on news that retail sales was pretty good. But if that's true, why is credit card usage DECLINING? If consumer confidence is as strong as they want us to believe, then why aren't people using their credit cards? Something is wrong with that picture!

Does this data sound like a robust economy:
The growth of U.S. retail spending (excluding autos) slowed from an annual average pace of 8 percent in 2011 to 5.1 percent in 2012. In the first five months of 2013, U.S. retail sales have been growing at an annual average pace of just 3.5 percent. What does that trend tell us?