Payroll tax hike may not have hit spending

Economists expect February retail sales to be up somewhere between 0.3% and 0.5% when the Commerce Department issues its monthly report on Wednesday, in spite of earlier concerns that the Jan. 1 payroll tax increase would chill spending. “We all assumed there would be a significant effect, but it has been pretty modest,” said Citigroup economist Steven Wietin. Full Story.