American consumers continue to part with all that money they saved up during the height of the pandemic, giving the world's largest economy a welcome boost. Retail sales rose 1-point-7 percent in October. That's higher than analysts' projections, and marks the third consecutive month of growth. Spending rose due to early holiday shopping, and higher fuel prices. A global chip shortage also made brand new cars more expensive, bumping up the total. It's a good sign for U-S retail giants, which are already seeing record revenues. Walmart says sales jumped a better-than-expected 4 percent to more than 140 billion dollars in the three months to September. And hardware goods chain Home Depot reported a 10 percent surge in revenue in the same period to almost 37 billion dollars. That result also beat market forecasts.

Mark Cohen is the director of retail studies at the Columbia Business School. He joins us now from New York.

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