U.S. Retail Sales Rise, Jobless Claims Fall

Jan. 13, 2005
By Agence France-Presse U.S. retail sales rose a modest 0.7% in July, the U.S. Commerce Department said Aug. 12, a weaker performance than had been predicted by economists. Private economists had generally predicted a gain of about 1.1%. Stripping out ...
By Agence France-Presse U.S. retail sales rose a modest 0.7% in July, the U.S. Commerce Department said Aug. 12, a weaker performance than had been predicted by economists. Private economists had generally predicted a gain of about 1.1%. Stripping out motor vehicles, retail sales edged up 0.2% in July, a much smaller gain than had been expected. In June, overall retail sales declined 0.5%, a little better than the first estimate of a 1.1% slump. Meanwhile, in other economic reports, the queue of Americans lodging new applications for jobless benefits shrank a little last week. The number of new claimants fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 333,000 in the week ended Aug. 7, after a drop of 9,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said. A four-week average of new claims, which smoothes out weekly distortions, dropped 4,250 to 339,250. In raw, unadjusted figures, the number of new claims rose 8,312 to 290,226. There were 348,207 claims in the comparable period last year. The pool of existing claimants -- those making claims for at least two weeks -- fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.9 million in the week ended July 31, the latest date for which those numbers were available. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Empowering the Modern Workforce: The Power of Connected Worker Technologies

March 1, 2024
Explore real-world strategies to boost worker safety, collaboration, training, and productivity in manufacturing. Emphasizing Industry 4.0, we'll discuss digitalization and automation...

3 Best Practices to Create a Product-Centric Competitive Advantage with PRO.FILE PLM

Jan. 25, 2024
Gain insight on best practices and strategies you need to accelerate engineering change management and reduce time to market. Register now for your opportunity to accelerate your...

Transformative Capabilities for XaaS Models in Manufacturing

Feb. 14, 2024
The manufacturing sector is undergoing a pivotal shift toward "servitization," or enhancing product offerings with services and embracing a subscription model. This transition...

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!