By Patrick McKeever

While there are growing concerns about record inflation, rising borrowing costs, the psychological impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and record-high gasoline prices, U.S. consumers continue to be very resilient, buoyed by broad-based labor-market strength, solid wage gains and accumulated savings during the pandemic.

The resilience is well reflected in retail sales, which rose more than 8 percent year over year in total in April and more than 6 percent when stripping out sales at gas stations, auto dealers and restaurants. 

While inflation (higher retail prices) contributed to the year-over-year growth, the...