Covid strikes back politico.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from politico.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
U S Retail Sales Rose Strongly on Stimulus in January lnt.ma - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lnt.ma Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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By Harriet Torry U.S. shoppers sharply increased spending in January, buoyed by stimulus payments that many households received in the most recent virus-relief package. Retail sales, a measure of purchases at stores, at restaurants and online, rose by a seasonally adjusted 5.3% in January from a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The increase followed three months of decline during the holiday season. It was the strongest gain since last June, when the economy was in the process of reopening from pandemic-related closures. It s hard not to see a message here that the stimulus worked in January to support a turnaround after a decline in early winter, said Robert Rosener, senior U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley, referring to the $600-a-recipient stimulus checks distributed in early January.