From Merrill Lynch:
Consumer spending accelerated in October, according to internal aggregated BAC credit and debit card data. Using the BAC card data, retail sales ex-autos climbed by 0.8% mom seasonally adjusted in October. This follows the 0.5% mom gain in September, leaving an improving trend. ... This is indicative of a solid pace of consumer spending. Indeed ... the consumer has strong support from wealth gains and income creation, but has restrained spending somewhat, given the propensity for greater savings and deleveraging.It looks like Q4 is off to a solid start.