Some good news in Australian consumer sentiment; not so in EU and US

We've been hearing lately that "flat is the new up," and the latest round of retail trade and consumer sentiment reports bring it home.

In Europe, non-food retail trade remained essentially flat for the 27-nation EU. In Australia, the March consumer sentiment reading was essentially flat, and analysts hailed it as a good sign. The story changes in the U.S., where the forward-looking consumer expectation index dropped sharply for February, after rising in January.