{"id":119957,"date":"2021-08-16T20:32:15","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T20:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=119957"},"modified":"2021-08-16T20:32:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T20:32:15","slug":"retail-sales-likely-dipped-in-july-as-consumers-held-off-on-purchases-amid-covid-delta-worries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/retail-sales-likely-dipped-in-july-as-consumers-held-off-on-purchases-amid-covid-delta-worries\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail sales likely dipped in July as consumers held off on purchases amid Covid delta worries"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Retail sales were expected to have turned lower in July, falling 0.3%, compared to a 0.6% gain in June, according to Dow Jones.<\/li>\n<li>Economists say Covid affected travel-related spending. Further, some vehicle sales fell off and consumers pulled back from spending online.<\/li>\n<li>The consumer drives about 70% of the economy, so spending is an important factor in economic growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Retail sales were expected to have fallen off in July, as consumers reacted to the delta variant of Covid and held off on online and vehicle purchases.<\/p>\n<p>Economists expect retail sales fell by 0.3% in July, compared to a 0.6% gain in June, according to Dow Jones consensus forecast. Excluding autos, sales were expected to have gained 0.2%, after a 1.3% gain in the month of June.<\/p>\n<p>The Census Bureau releases the monthly sales data at 8:30 a.m. ET Tuesday. The data will be released just days after University of Michigan consumer sentiment fell to the lowest level since 2011 on concerns about Covid and the impact on the economy.<\/p>\n<p>However, Bank of America economists expect the decline in sales could look even more ominous, with a 2.3% month-over-month decline. The economists use Bank of America credit card data in their sales analysis, and they also expect the report to show a bigger decline than normal since July has included Prime Day sales in the past. This year, Amazon&#x27;s Prime Day was early, on June 22.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;This is not a one component story. It seems like it&#x27;s a much more broad-based slowdown,&quot; said Joseph Song, senior U.S. economist at Bank of America. &quot;From our perspective, the big story is there was less online spending in the month of July than in June.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Song said service spending continue to be good but at a slower pace, according to card data. There&#x27;s been a clear slowing in travel spending, with air travel expenditures ending up negative for the month and hotel spending dropping off.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We are starting to see some pullbacks, especially in discretionary spending and travel,&quot; he said. Song said according to the card data, online retail spending was negative for the month, and it declined by 2% in the final seven days of July.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers make up about 70% of the U.S. economy, and their spending is an important force in economic growth. Song said he is looking for a bounce back in August, as consumers make back-to-school purchases.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;All through 2021, travel was improving through the month of June and now it&#x27;s starting to turn back down \u2014 primarily air travel, but lodging is starting to show some softness as well,&quot; he said. &quot;This is indicative of consumers being more cautious because of the rising case counts of the delta variant.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Conference Board Consumer Confidence [Index], consumer sentiment \u2014 they all reflect some deterioration&#8230; it does seem like we are getting a little softening,&quot; Song added.<\/p>\n<p>Some other economists, however, do not expect the rapidly spreading delta variant of Covid caused too much impact yet, and a virus related pullback could come later on in August and September.<\/p>\n<p>Barclays chief U.S. economist Michael Gapen expects a 0.2% gain, but he notes that it could possibly have been negative. He said if there is a decline, it would not necessarily be due to Covid at this point.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It wouldn&#x27;t suggest Covid is causing people to retrench and stay at home. It would be a bottleneck story,&quot; in which the supply chain is affecting availability of goods, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Bank of America economists expect a month-over-month decline of 2.4%, excluding autos.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Because a lot of that weakness is online spending, and we think Prime Day had an impact on that, we hope that things will bounce back in the month of August,&quot; Song said.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/08\/16\/retail-sales-likely-dipped-in-july-as-consumers-held-off-on-purchases.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retail sales were expected to have turned lower in July, falling 0.3%, compared to a 0.6% gain in June, according to Dow Jones. Economists say [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Retail sales likely dipped in July as consumers held off on purchases amid Covid delta worries - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/retail-sales-likely-dipped-in-july-as-consumers-held-off-on-purchases-amid-covid-delta-worries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retail sales likely dipped in July as consumers held off on purchases amid Covid delta worries - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Retail sales were expected to have turned lower in July, falling 0.3%, compared to a 0.6% gain in June, according to Dow Jones. 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