INSTANT VIEW 4: U.S. retail sales rise in March

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose 0.2 percent in March, pushed up by a jump in gasoline sales, a government report released on Monday showed.

KEY POINTS: * Sales at gasoline stations rose 1.1 percent, the Commerce Department said. * Excluding gasoline sales, retail sales were flat last month, evidence that consumers are wary about spending in an economy that appears to be contracting. * Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting retail sales to be unchanged from the previous month. * Excluding automobiles, retail sales rose 0.1 percent, in line with expectations.

COMMENTS:

MARC PADO, U.S. MARKET STRATEGIST, CANTOR FITZGERALD & CO.:

"You have to look at the fact that it's a retail number, gasoline rising, food prices rising also contributed to the upside of the number. When you strip that out, you're actually unchanged on the retail sales. I would say that it's probably not as positive as the market took it initially. Maybe when they start digging into the number they're see not really as strong as those plus arrows make it look.

"The futures popped up a little bit looking for some positive news to help support the market here and saw the green arrows and jumped on it. But, overall the number isn't that good."

DREW MATUS, SENIOR FINANCIAL ECONOMIST, LEHMAN BROTHERS, NEW

YORK:

"The headline number makes the report out to look better than it is -- it didn't really do anything to our first quarter GDP estimate which is now looking like 0.6 percent. Electronics and all the home furnishing areas are still weak, and I don't necessarily think this is a sign that the U.S. consumer is unaffected by gasoline, and rather it is a report that seems to highlight that consumers are moving into a more cautious mode."