Does a boost in retail sales mean the economy is back on track?

It looks like Americans are ready to open up their wallets again. According to a new report from the Commerce Department, retail spending is up 1.1 percent from January and 4.6 percent from February 2012.

That's the biggest rise in five months, according to Reuters, far better than the 0.5 percent boost economists had predicted. Paired with last month's positive jobs report, does this mean the U.S. economy is on the mend?

Neil Irwin of The Washington Post is certainly optimistic:

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That rosy assessment has one problem, says the Wall Street Examiner's Lee Adler: What about gas prices? Those retail sales include money spent at the pump and, according to Reuters, gas prices jumped by 35 cents in January. Rising gas prices "actually act like a tax on disposable income," writes Adler, meaning "the year to year change in real retail sales, ex gasoline prices and adjusted for inflation in February was not a gain at all as the headlines blared, but a decline of 0.5 percent."

Alyssa Oursler of InvestorPlace reluctantly plays the role of Debbie Downer, reminding us of not only the spike in gas prices but also "the high number of retailers that have provided not-so-hot outlooks," including companies like Express and Walmart. In fact, according to The Associated Press, the stock market remained largely static despite the rise in consumer spending.

Overall, the reaction among analysts and Wall Street reporters is a collective "it's good, not great." Matthew Yglesias of Slate does find a few bright spots, especially online:

Despite the mixed signals, the numbers were good enough to make economists raise their first-quarter growth estimates by up to eight tenths of a percentage. Not huge, but it's something.