Pent-up demand, a longing for normalcy and a bit of revenge shopping: A closer look at those surprising retail numbers

The number was shocking: U.S. retail sales rose 17.7 percent from April to May. That jump far bested the predictions of economists, who expected a more sluggish increase of just 7 percent or 8 percent.

What’s behind this surprising increase in retail sales during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic? Midwest Real Estate News spoke to Jaime Ward, head of retail finance with Citizens Bank, to find out. Here is some of what he had to say...

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RSK: No surprise to me. With all the people working from home and no one looking over their shoulder, easy to order something on line to take a break from boredom.