Redemption days are going to be very important this year.

It was an OK year, not a boom, not a bust.

For instance, temperatures last week in the Northeast were 10 degrees warmer compared to the same period last year. That helped push sales of seasonal merchandise. Is all sales strength due to the weather? That's hard to say.

The arithmetic works in their favor. Looking at year-over-year comparisons, March last year was among the weakest months where retail sales also suffered because of a late Easter.

Can you raise the question of whether the retail industry is finally on the mend? Given the picture that's developing here, tentatively at least you can say, yeah. Certainly we can make more upbeat comments on the holiday season.

Wow, wow, wow, ... We saw widespread gains across categories last month. Looking at the ex-auto component, the (favorable) comparisons are reaching back all the way to March 2000, prior to the slowdown at the peak of the economic recovery.