Digging through the numbers

Stories about the economy are rife with numbers. You have to be discerning to understand what they really mean. In this case the truly revealing numbers are withheld until the last of the seven paragraphs.

Retail sales stage unexpected rebound

Sales at retailers rose 0.3 percent in January, which was an unexpected pickup that partly reflected stronger sales of new cars and gasoline, according to a Commerce Department report on Wednesday.

January's sales increase followed a 0.4 percent decline in December and was contrary to Wall Street analysts' forecasts for a 0.2 percent decline.

And now to the kicker...

Excluding gasoline, January retail sales rose 0.1 percent.

At least it was not an overall decline.

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