South By North Strategies, Ltd.

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

The overall service sector weakened in January, damped by softness at services providers, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retail sales were nearly flat for the month, although big-ticket sales remained in decline. For the first time since December 2007, shopper traffic rose. Merchants’ inventories also increased slightly in January. In contrast to the strengthening at retail establishments, however, revenues at services firms fell this month. Even so, survey respondents overall were upbeat about business prospects for the six months ahead.
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The number of employees continued to shrink in the service sector, but the decline slowed at retail establishments. Average wages were virtually unchanged, and service sector price growth slowed. Expectations were for price increases during the coming six months to be somewhat slower than anticipated in last month’s outlook.