Dive Summary:

• Despite early challenges for U.S. consumers in 2013, Americans boosted spending in April despite spending less on essential and more on discretionary items, according to sources.
• "The big positive here is that the declines in gas and food prices appear to be freeing up cash for spending in other places," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo.
• Despite an overall gain of 0.1% for April spending, grocery store and gas station sales fell 4.7%

From the article:

While the 0.1% overall gain in retail sales in April was "quite encouraging," given most economists' expectations of another decline, several months of readings are needed to get a handle on whether consumers can sustain the spending, said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomic Advisors.