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):

Service sector revenues picked up in July, fueled by solid gains at non-retail services firms, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retail sales remained flat, however, while big-ticket sales dropped sharply. Shopper traffic also fell this month. Retail inventories declined, although reductions were somewhat less prevalent than a month ago. Retail merchants and survey respondents at non-retail firms were upbeat about sales prospects for the next six months.
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Service sector labor markets weakened in July, with a drop in the number of retail employees and no change in hiring at non-retail services firms. In addition, average wages in the service sector flattened.
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Price growth edged up mildly in July. Compared to their outlook of a month ago, survey respondents looked for slightly slower price growth through the rest of the year.