Amid bad news about the Covid crisis, two encouraging signs appeared last week on the economic horizon: retail sales and housing starts.

For the 12 months ended June 30, 2020, retail sales rose +2.7%.

For the 12 months ended April 30, retail sales revenue had plunged by 18.1%. In the 12 months ended May 31, retail sales rebounded but were still -2.4% lower than they had been a year earlier.