This is a solid gain again for retailers for the second month in a row.

During the month of January, about 40 percent of gift cards are redeemed and that is exactly what consumers began to do this past week. As a result, chain stores saw their sales rise slightly.

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.

And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

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.

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