Retail Sales Up In February

Retail sales rose 1 percent in February from January and were up 8.9 percent from February 2010, the Census Bureau just reported.

There was a 2.3 percent rise in car sales last month from January, and that helped drive (pun intended) the overall increase.

Bloomberg News says the 1 percent rise was "the most in four months, [and was] spurred by job gains and more seasonable temperatures." Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.