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After two straight months of .02 percent declines in December and January, U.S. consumer spending rose by 0.1 percent in February, reported the Commerce Department.

While the increase may be modest, consumer income rose by a healthy amount of .04 percent, which matches January's rise, thus leading economists to believe that a spending boost will come in the next few months.

Spending on nondurable goods such as food and energy saw a 0.4 percent increase while durable goods were down 0.1 percent as auto sales weakened. A portion of these mild increases may be due to severe cold weather, which keeps shoppers away from malls and car dealerships. Sales have fallen in various industries, such as restaurants, home improvement stores, electronics and appliance stores.

As the country moves into the second quarter of the year, industry professionals are optimistic for a healthy growth rebound of 3 percent or better.

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Nick Powills

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Nick Powills

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Nick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.

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