Economic indicators reflect weak recovery; Consumers don't expect improvement anytime soon, survey says
Economic indicators released Friday confirmed what tight-fisted American consumers have already concluded: The economy may be recovering, but barely.</br></br>Retail sales grew 0.4 percent in July after falling a revised 0.3 percent in June, the Commerce Department reported. The increase was the first one in three months and was mainly attributable to a rebound in auto sales boosted by dealer incentives. Department store sales declined 1 percent, and sales at clothing stores fell 0.7 percent. Despite the slight gain, sales failed to meet expectations.</br></br>Business inventories, a key piece of data that economists use to judge the growth of the wider economy, rose for the sixth consecutive month in June to 0.3 percent. Sales at the wholesale level fell for the second month in a row, although the 0.6 percent decline was significantly less than the 1.2 percent drop in May.</br></br>Consumer sentiment is similarly lukewarm. An index of what they think about the economy by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan rose to 69.6 in early August from 67.8 in July, which had been the lowest level since November, Reuters reported. Despite the small increase, consumers did not anticipate an improved economy any time soon.</br></br>Consumer inflation edged up for the first time in four months and slightly above forecasts to 0.3 percent in July, adjusted for seasonal variations, according to the Labor Department. The gain was mainly due to an increase in energy costs. Overall inflation, excluding the volatile statistics for energy and food, rose only 0.1 percent.