U.S. retail sales have been strong in early 2006. Weather played a big role in lifting January sales, but the pullback in February still left sales growth averaging 0.8% m/m over the first two months. This fair degree of momentum is expected to continue into March with a rise of 0.4% in retail sales. “March retail sales are expected to post a modest rebound, following a weather boosted sales surge in January and a pullback in February,” declared Mike Carey, currency strategist at Calyon. “We look for total retail sales to rise 0.4% with some of the nominal increase driven by the +6.4% rise in gasoline prices, which inflated gas station receipts,” he added. Compared to the same period a year ago, total retail sales cooled down to a pace of 6.7%, after jumping to 9.4% in January. In December, the yearly pace of sales was 5.8%.