NY Times: Retailers Post Weak Quarterly Earnings and July Sales

[marmar]

Retailers Post Weak Quarterly Earnings and July Sales

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Published: August 13, 2009


Several recent indicators have raised the prospect that the recession might be ending. But American consumers do not seem to be getting the word.

Retail spending is still far below that of a year ago in virtually every category, as figures reported Thursday showed. Major clothing chains including Macy’s, Nordstrom, Liz Claiborne and Kohl’s posted earnings declines this week. Even Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest retailer and one of the hardiest survivors of this recession, reported lower sales on Thursday.

Taken together, the reports made clear that consumers were likely to continue hoarding their dollars into the usually robust back-to-school shopping season, a crucial time for retailers.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent in July from a month earlier, far below the 0.7 percent increase economists were expecting. Comparing this July to the same month a year ago, retail sales were down 8.3 percent. Stark as that drop sounds, it is actually a slight improvement from recent months, when sales were down 9 percent or more compared to the same month a year ago. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/business/14shop.html?_r=1&hp

[DJ13]

1. Better paying jobs drive increased sales, no jobs, low paying jobs

= no retail sales.

Any questions Wall Street?

Tomorrows lesson will be on putting our economy on its death bed so you can increase your yearly bonuses.