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 remained weak in October, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. For a second month, revenues dropped at non-retail services providing establishments. Retailers’ revenues also fell, albeit more slowly than a month earlier, as big-ticket sales rose for the first time since April 2007 and the summer-long fall-off in shopper traffic nearly halted. In addition, merchants’ inventories declined in October. Looking ahead, retailers were pessimistic in their expectations for sales over the next six months, while services providers’ optimism ticked up.
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In service sector labor markets, employment flattened overall, as hiring increased at services firms but retail job losses broadened.
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Price growth moderated in October, held in check by slower retail price change. For the six months ahead, survey respondents generally expected somewhat slower price acceleration than they predicted last month.