Good Economic News of the Week

Test Ticker

Please support Mother Jones with a year-end donation. The truth is, we're a long way from our $600,000 goal, and we have to get as close as we can by Tuesday so we don't have to make hard decisions come January. If you value our reporting, please consider pitching in today.

$600,000

We still need to raise 400,000: Whether you can give $5 or $500, it all matters.

Please support Mother Jones with a year-end donation. We need to raise $600,000, or get as close as we can, by Tuesday so we don't need to make hard decisions come January. Whether you can give $5 or $500, it all makes a difference.

Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.

Since I posted a big ol’ stew of bad economic news last night, it’s only fair to perk up the start of your week with some good economic news:

U.S. retail sales surged in October, rising above expectations on robust car sales and solid spending for a broad array of merchandise going into the holiday shopping season.

Separately, inventories at U.S. businesses in September rose above expectations, a sign of confidence among companies in the economic recovery as the holiday shopping season grew nearer. Retail sales rose 1.2% last month….The increase was the biggest since March and the fourth in a row. September sales rose 0.7%, revised up from a previously estimated 0.6% increase.

I don’t know if this is sustainable or not. Without a big drop in unemployment and steady wage gains, I doubt it, since consumers are still deleveraging and look to be doing so for a while now. Still, it’s good to see. I guess all that regulatory uncertainty isn’t holding back businesses after all.