The Commerce Department has released data on retail sales for March, and the monthly and yearly trends are positive:

The advance estimates from Commerce show total US retail and food sales at $363.2 billion for the month.  That's up 1.6% from February, and up 7.6% from March, 2009.  Even self-proclaimed pessimist, and Fed watcher, Tim Duy is upbeat about the data.  He writes--in his regular column at Economist's View--that the data "should dispel any lingering concerns that American consumers remain huddled in their basements, clutching a bar of gold with one hand and a loaded shotgun with the other."  Read his analysis of this data and the impact it should have on the Fed's outlook here.  

And read the Commerce Department's release here.