Personal Finance

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Thursday by the Commerce Dept. said that retail sales in the U.S. gained 0.6% in May, more than forecast and likely boosted by increased hiring during the month.

The increase was the largest in three months and followed a 0.1% advance in April. Bloomberg economists called for a 0.4% increase. The figures used to calculate economic growth, which exclude categories such as automobiles, climbed 0.3%.

Yonkers, N.Y. – American consumers are reporting significantly fewer financial troubles than any time in the past three years, according to the Consumer Reports Index. The Index’s trouble tracker index, which measures the proportion of consumers that have faced difficulties as well as the number of negative financial events they have encountered, dropped from 41.7 in April to 34 in May. This is the lowest trouble tracker score since Consumer Reports began reporting it in April 2009 and more than 50% below its all-time high score of 68.7 in September 2009.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy, an online service that allows parents to monitor their children's online shopping behavior, has deployed technology enabling youth younger than 18 to safely make donations to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending dropped 0.2% in April 2013, according to the Commerce Department.

It was the first monthly decline since May of last year and follows increases of 0.1% in March and 0.8% in February. Falling gas prices in April were part of the reason for the drop in spending, with purchases of gas, electricity and other energy goods and services down 4.4%.

In addition, increased Social Security deductions in consumer paychecks may have also contributed to the decline in spending.

Whiting, Ind. -- Survey results released Thursday by CouponCabin.com found that more than one-in-10 Americans say their shopping habits have put them in debt, with 20% saying the most amount of shopping debt they've been in exceeds $5,000.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, also revealed that 41% of U.S. adults have created shopping debt of more than $1,000. Eleven percent consider themselves to be shopaholics.

New York -- Consumer sentiment for the week ended May 27 maintained a near five-year high level, according to the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index on Thursday.

Crediting an improving economy and healing personal finances, Americans are expressing continued optimism, as the Index was at minus 29.7 in the period compared with minus 29.4 a week earlier. The margin of error for the figure is 3 percentage points.

According to Bloomberg, views on the current state of the economy matched a mid-April reading as the strongest since January 2008.

New York -- Consumer confidence climbed to the highest level in more than five years, according to The Conference Board. The group’s closely-watched sentiment index rose to 76.2 in May, the highest since February 2008, and up from a reading of 69.0 in April.

The expectations index jumped to 82.4 in May from 74.3 in April to mark the highest level in seven months. The present situation index rose to 66.7 from 61.0. The share of consumers expecting more jobs to open in the next six months increased to a five-month high.

New York -- A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that U.S. consumer confidence for the week ended May 19 advanced, indicating that Americans’ outlook on the economy is optimistic.

The weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index increased to minus 29.4 from minus 30.2 the prior week. A measure of personal finances was positive for a sixth consecutive week, the longest stretch in more than five years, according to Bloomberg.