Retail sales going up despite high unemployment rate

Consumer spending has been going up despite high unemployment rate, which was recorded to be at 9.9% in April, 2010. Bearish investors find it very strange that shoppers have started returning back to the shopping malls and stores amidst joblessness crisis.
Customers of luxury products are showing willingness to spend lavishly once again. May 14 data also showed an increase of 5.7% in retail sales in April 2010 from April 2009. Similarly data released in March 2010 demonstrated a record 7.8% increase in retail sales, which was the highest since August 2005.
Bearish investors and economists have some very different theories to explain this increase in retail sales. They suggest that as most of the homeowners are waiting for foreclosures, so they are not paying their mortgage installments and instead spending their money on shopping.
However this theory cannot be fully trusted as even those homeowners who plan to complete mortgage payments and stay at their current homes are spending more than usual. That is why retail sales of home furnishing stores increased 5.5% in data released in April, 2010.
Another explanation is that this uptrend in retail sales is merely temporary. High retail sales have resulted in high stock prices of the relevant company, which in turn has boosted consumer confidence. However, if stock index can boost consumers’ confidence, it can also destroy it by going down. So the pessimistic economists are of the view that the consumers need to stay skeptic until and unless the economy gets completely out of recession.