Gassing Up

Retail sales jumped 0.1% in April and while not great, it beats the 0.5% decline in March! Moreover, it shows that consumers are spending despite the sequester and the payroll tax increase. And a key reason was the huge 3.5% decline in gasoline prices, the largest monthly drop in a decade. If sustained for a year, lower gas prices would save consumers $15 billion/year and boost GDP by 0.1% singlehandedly.