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 activity slowed in May, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retail sales dwindled as shopper traffic dropped sharply; big ticket sales remained in decline. Revenues also weakened at non-retail services firms. Looking ahead six months, retail merchants pulled back from their optimism of a month ago. Non-retail services providers maintained a positive outlook, but were less upbeat than in April.
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In service sector labor markets, retailers made few changes, while hiring rose solidly at non-retail firms, albeit more slowly than a month earlier. Average wages were nearly unchanged at retail establishments, but spiked at services firms.
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Price change in the sector was contained; retail price growth remained at last month’s pace, while services firms’ prices advanced a bit more slowly in May. Services providers’ expectations for price change in the months ahead moderated from their outlook of a month ago, while merchants anticipated an uptick from their previous estimates.