U.S. shoppers undeterred by recent snow storms

U.S. shoppers undeterred by recent snow storms

U.S. shoppers seemed undeterred by heavy snow storms in recent weeks as strong store sales carried momentum from the holidays well through January.

Major retailers Costco, Macy's and Victoria's Secret reported strong sales last month as consumer spending continued to pick up in a sign of economic recovery.

Other indicators such as the decline in unemployment claims and the largest service sector growth in five years are other signals that a rebound is indeed in motion.

"It's one more piece of the economic puzzle that's falling in place," Michael P. Niemira, chief economist of the International Council of Shopping Centers told AP.

Holiday season sales last year were the strongest since 2006 before the onset of the downturn, the industry association said. That capped off a year of growth for consumer spending, and shoppers proved in January that they had a little extra to spend more one month after the holidays.

According to the group, 32 stores who were open at least one year had a 4.8 percent growth for January, exceeding lowered expectations of between 1.2 and 2 percent on account of successive snowstorms hitting the Northeast.

Analysts look at consumer spending because it accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. Stores are preparing for the next surge in sales around Valentine's Day and Easter.

In related data, growth of service jobs was the fastest in five years. Just like the service sector, manufacturing is now back to its level of growth that it showed before the recession. Unemployment claims dipped after a brief increase the prior week which was attributed to bad weather conditions.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Friday February 04 2011, 4:00 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0