Retail sales regaining lost ground with strong growth   

Seasonally adjusted real retail sales increased in November to $172.8 billion from $171.6 billion in October. (Note that actual sales are deflated using CPI 1982-84=100.) Year-over-year growth was 5.90%, marking the third straight month over 5% growth. From peak to current, retail sales are only off 4.2%, a much smaller percentage decline than what has occurred in the housing and auto markets. September sales were 9.3% higher than the trough of the recent recession. From March 2010 through September 2010 retail sales numbers were relatively flat, but the last two months have shown a strong recovery. The vertical bars in the graph represent recessions.