Maybe, just maybe, the consumer is starting to feel like dipping their toe into the water. It seems as if the consumer is finally starting to feel confident enough about the current path of the American economy to start to spend some money and get the ball rolling. Today both the retail sales number from November and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment number from early December showed a whole lot of promise.

Retail sales rose by 1.3% in the month of November, more than double the estimate that economists were looking for from the month. A strong Black Friday and Cyber Monday certainly contributed to the report, which showed that consumers are no longer feeling as if they shouldn’t spend at all. Clearly discounting at retailers helped bring consumers in, but in the past even deep discounts hadn’t been enough to make consumers make the purchase.

Consumer sentiment jumped to 73.4 in early December from a reading of just 67.4 in November. This is the highest level of consumer confidence in 3 months. Most analysts believe that the slight improve in the labor market as well as promotions and discounting for holiday sales has gotten consumers into a better mood in the last month.

Consumer confidence and retail sales don’t always move in the same direction, but when they are both moving upward it is certainly a strong positive for the overall economy. Consumers account for 70% of the American economy and without strong consumer spending the American economy simply cannot thrive. The current upswing isn’t yet a confirmed trend, rather it has the potential to be the start of something big. The real key going forward will be whether the labor market can continue to improve, which would in turn allow consumers to continue to feel more comfortable making purchases and stimulate the entire economy.