South By North Strategies, Ltd.

From the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s latest survey of service-sector activity in the South Atlantic (District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia):

Activity in the service sector was lackluster in August, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Big-ticket sales slumped and anemic shopper traffic contributed to weak retail sales. Inventories rose slightly and merchants looked for little change in the six months ahead. Revenues sagged at non-retail services firms, although those businesses anticipated a mild uptick by the early part of 2013.
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In service sector labor markets, retailers left their number of employees unchanged and services providers made additions to their payrolls. Collectively, wage increases were more widespread this month.