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GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Nothing is slowing down Dollar General, which, shortly after reporting surging quarterly sales and profits, announced that it will open its 10,000th store in the United States. The store will be located in Merced, Calif., and is one the company's first stores in California.

New York -- Consumer spending rose 0.8% in February, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the biggest increase since July. However, the increase came as Americans' income barely grew, and the saving rate fell to its lowest point in more than two years.

Some of the higher spending last month reflected rising gas prices. But even after excluding inflation, which was due mainly to gas prices, spending rose a solid 0.5%.

Plano, Texas -- Former Apple executive Ron Johnson, who became CEO of J.C. Penney in November, received $53.3 million in total compensation from the department store retailer last year.

Johnson received a base salary of $375,000 and $52.7 million in stock awards, according to a regulatory filing. His performance-based bonus was $236,000, which the company said was pro-rated based on his period of service during the fiscal year. He also received compensation valued at $13,000 for personal use of the company's aircraft.

Wal-Mart Stores is making strides across the Atlantic, as its Asda division is taking more of the grocery market share in the United Kingdom from rival Tesco.

According to a report from research firm Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12-week period ended March 18, Asda's share of the market grew to 17.9% on top of a year-over-year growth rate of 7.8%. By comparison, Tesco's growth rate of 2.7% lags behind the overall grocery market, which is growing at 4%.

New York -- Fashion retailer Cache reported Thursday that net income for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 was $1.9 million, compared with a loss of $14.2 million the year-ago period.

Sales surged 12.5% to $62.9 million, from $55.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Same-store sales increased 12.4%.

Year to date the company has closed 12 underperforming stores and said it expects to close five more stores and open two in fiscal 2012.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores chief merchandising officer Duncan MacNaughton said during a CIBC conference on Wednesday that Wal-Mart’s domestic sales momentum has continued over the last two months.

The world’s largest retailer registered a same-store sales rise of 1.3% in U.S. stores in the third quarter and a 1.5% increase in the fourth quarter.

Results reversed a nine-quarter streak of same-store sales declines.

According to MacNaughton, the momentum continued in February and March, as well.

NEW YORK — The Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board fall slightly in March to 70.2 from 71.6 in February. 

"Consumer Confidence pulled back slightly in March, after rising sharply in February,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “The moderate decline was due solely to a less favorable short-term outlook, while consumers’ assessment of current conditions, on the other hand, continued to improve.”

Los Angeles -- Starbucks Coffee Co. has been rated number one in a study of the most socially engaged companies by PhaseOne, a leading analytical-based research firm that helps companies to improve the quality, content and success rate of their marketing communication materials.

Conducted between July 2011 and January 2012, PhaseOne's social media engagement study looked at 75 top brands across six vertical markets and analyzed the social media engagement of more than 20 top brands.