Falling gas prices, a rallying stock market and gains in the job market all fueled Americans' shopping habits even as coldweather tempered their desire to buy spring fashions.
Bulls says the March fall in sales was an anomaly, the result of an unseasonable coldweather that kept shoppers in much of the country from buying spring clothes and seasonal merchandise.
Even though several days of cold, wind and rain gave way to warmer spring temperatures at Phillip Island, the Spaniard was feeling under the weather, struggling to the sixth fastest lap time.