Retail Sales Rebound, Rising 0.6% in March

.S. retail sales rose 0.6% in March, following a drop in February, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

ales rose to $361 billion, following February’s 0.8% decline that had been reported originally as a 1.3% drop, the first in six months.

March’s 0.6% gain exceeded economists’ forecasts of a 0.4% increase, Bloomberg reported.

Almost all trucking operations depend on the health of retail sales because such sales involve nearly every type of cargo.

Retail sales account for almost half of all consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the economy.