Consumer Discretionary Share Rise On Economic Data

In a note to investors, RBC Capital Markets analyst Howard Tubin said it appears business has improved modestly since the end of last year.

"To be sure, we are not saying that business is good," he wrote. "But what we are saying is that things do not appear to be getting much worse and within that context most of our retailers are managing through the environment as best they can and better than they were able to in the fourth quarter of 2008."