Encouraged by a four per cent increase in sales on what is traditionally the nation's busiest shopping day, US Treasury Secretary Mr Paul O'Neill said today the struggling US economy was headed for recovery.
Some economists had predicted sales would slump four per cent or more last Friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday. There were concerns that consumer confidence, already dimmed by a slowing economy, had taken an additional hit from the September 11th attacks on the United States.
"The number that I saw earlier this morning indicated holiday sales on Friday were four per cent over a year ago," Mr O'Neill told ABC's This Week. "That doesn't sound to me like a weak consumer."
Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the US economy and officials from the White House on down have urged shoppers to keep buying.
Mr O'Neill said the economy had now moved back to the recovery phase he believed it was in before September 11th.
"I think if you look at the date on September the 10th, we were in the beginning of a recovery phase, and I think we've moved back there, he said.
Mr O'Neill said he expected the US economy to recover early next year, with growth likely to pick up as 2002 continues.
He would not say if he believed the economy was in recession.