Travel is good, restaurant sales are brisk, and we find an acceleration of retail sales that surprises me.

The big surprise here is that even if we take out auto dealership and gasoline station sales, we're still up by one percent. This is a summary of consumer spending that is replete with unexpected vigor.

The big surprise here is that even if we take out auto dealership and gasoline station sales, we're still up by one percent, ... This is a summary of consumer spending that is replete with unexpected vigor.

Despite the slippage in home sales there is no evidence of any nationwide softening of home prices, though it may be difficult to avoid some slippage in the price of residential real estate if only because a slower pace of home sales is likely for 2006,

The 2006 year opened on a strong note, with solid growth of 33 percent in online non-travel sales versus the same period in 2005. It's clear based on what we're seeing so far in 2006 that the strength in online sales will not wane anytime soon.

You don't beat people with surprises, but with execution.