Retailers See Drop in August

Businesses are still in rough shape as the latest retail sales data is released. August retail sales show weakness. With consumers still paying attention to their own bottom line, businesses are not see as much custom. However, the weak retail sales data wasn’t as bad as it has been lately, prompting speculation that the economic recovery might be beginning as the situation makes strides.

Of course, any improvement is going to be slow going. Until employment improves substantially and consumers are more confident about their financial situations, they are likely to be stingy with the spending. And this means that businesses will have problems.

It is worth noting that back to school shopping did appear to have some effect, though not as much as hoped for. Discount clothing retailers (like Ross and TJ Maxx) saw an increase in sales, more than what was expected.

The news hasn’t had a devastating effect on stocks today, though. The Dow is modestly higher as investors consider that things are improving at a slow pace. While not thrilled with the pace of recovery, investors are nonetheless hoping that a transition from “not as bad” to “improving noticeably” will happen sometime by the end of this year.

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