US Retail Sales Continue To Show Strength

U.S. retail sales continued to show strength during the first week for April, with same-store sales rising 0.5 percent from the previous week and 4.5 percent from the same period of 2011, according to a report Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs.

Separately, data compiled by Redbook Research showed that for the first week of April, same-store sales rose 0.8 percent from March and 4.1 percent from April of last year.

An early Easter holiday and usually warm weather in the eastern United States may have contributed to the increases, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

However, both the ICSC and Redbook reported even higher gains for the previous week, underscoring the strength of the U.S. retail sector amid doubts about the overall economy, including those fueled by last Friday's unexpectedly weak jobs report.

The U.S. Census Bureau is set to release March retail sales figure next Monday.