Real-Time Data Suggest an Improving Economy
The much-anticipated second-half rebound in economic activity shows signs of materializing.</br></br>Some key real-time economic indicators improved during the early weeks of July.</br></br>Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that sales in July are tracking at the high end of management's expectations. The company is expecting that stores open at least one year will report a 2% to 4% monthly increase in sales from a year earlier. The company said it is making up for weaker seasonal sales recorded in May and June. The Northeast is especially strong.</br></br>Meanwhile, the Economic Cycle Research Institute, a private research institute, said its weekly index of leading economic indicators climbed in mid-July to its highest level since early April 2000. The index -- which tracks a range of financial and economic indicators -- is growing at its fastest rate since 1987.</br></br>"The window of [economic] vulnerability that the index picked up earlier in the year has slammed shut," said Lakshman Achuthan, the group's managing director.