Richard Hastings Job Quotations

I expect this number to rise toward the end of the year. At the same time jobs and wages won't rise fast enough to offer relief to already overstretched consumers. This could hurt retail spending in the second-half.

As long as people can find the right merchandise, have a job and borrow a little bit, they are going to go shopping. Overall, the holiday season was good. Retailers who had it all nailed down were the winners.

What's holding up the consumer is habit. Until things change in a very material manner, American consumers won't alter their shopping habits significantly. The jobs market is strong and there's been a little bit of improvement in wage growth. I still don't believe that gas prices are high enough to derail consumers. If there is one thing that could shake consumers it's the housing market and not gas inflation.

Sears did a superb job on seasonal holiday promotions in circulars and TV ads and enjoyed a strong November. Sears comparable sales gains compares favorably to last year when November 2003 same-store sales were down 3.6 percent,