U.S.
retail and food sales rose 0.5 percent in April to $389.4 billion, the Commerce
Department said, marking the tenth straight month of sales gains.  

That
also marks a 7.6 percent jump above April 2010.

Excluding
autos, retail and food services sales in April were $321.2 billion, up 0.6%
from March and up 6.9% from April 2010, the Dept. said.

While
the jump was slightly below analyst expectations, the Commerce Department also
revised upwards its estimates of February and March sales.

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