If we're going to have a decent recession, consumers are going to have to stay away from the stores. So far they're not. The plunge in June retail sales got revised slightly upward this morning, and the July figures came in positive and better than expected. Sez Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales at U.S. retailers rose a slightly more-than- expected 0.3 percent in July and they were even stronger once car and gasoline sales were stripped out, Commerce Department data showed on Monday.

Excluding autos, retail sales gained 0.4 percent in July as forecast and the prior month was revised to a 0.2 percent decline versus a 0.4 percent fall initially reported.

Economists polled by Reuters forecast overall retail sales to rise 0.2 percent compared with a revised 0.7 percent drop in June, previously reported as a 0.9 percent drop.

So-called core retail sales, which exclude cars, gasoline and building materials, were up 0.6 percent from a 0.3 percent gain in June.

Purchases of motor vehicles and parts, which make up around one fifth of total sales, fell 0.3 percent. Gasoline sales fell 0.8 percent.