If you wondered why "The Fed turned the market around" last week [3], acting so sensitively aggressive to act with stocks only down modestly from record highs, one glance at the following chart might answer the question. During last week's turbulence, ICSC-Goldman Chain Store Sales growth plunged to a mere 2.1% YoY - the weakest in 5 months and worst for this time of year since 2010.

Does this seem like a nation of consumers willing to take up the animal spirits, confident-about-the-future, torch of escape velocity spending from The Fed?
Charts: Bloomberg
