US retail sales exceeded all forecasts and industrial production strengthened last month, fresh evidence of a resilient American consumer whose spending is helping stabilize manufacturing. Sales, unadjusted for inflation, increased 0.7% after upwardly revised advances in the prior two months, according to the Commerce Department. So-called control group sales — which are used to calculate spending on merchandise in the gross domestic product report — rose a better-than-expected 0.6%. Robust consumer demand, in the aftermath of September data showing stubborn inflation and surging job growth, risks prompting the ... (full story)