Whether we received our rebate checks according to schedule or not [1], it seems their arrival (or anticipated arrival) resulted in a surprising retail resurgence. Economists who estimated retail sales would see a 0.5 percent boost during May were proven wrong when sales actually increased [2] by one percent.

This may indicate the economy isn't as weak as thought, although it's going to take more than a month of increased consumer spending to convince me that we're finding our way out of the woods.

Source [3]