Trading was lackluster today after the Census Bureau released its July Advance Monthly Sales for Retail Trade and Food Services (MARTS) report today. The report (which can be found here) showed a .4 percent increase in July retail and food service sales and a 5.5 percent increase over July 2009. In addition, the report adjusted the .5 percent drop in sales that was shown in the June report. It raised this figure to a lower, .3 percent, decrease in June sales. Retail trade sales were also up .4 percent from the previous month and 5.9 percent from July 2009.
As good as this news was for investors, it was not enough to ease fears of a slowdown in economic recovery, especially since analysts were predicting a .5 percent increase in retail trade sales for July. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unable to break its 3-day losing spell and fell 16.04 points to 10,303.91. The Nasdaq fell 16.79 points to 2,173.48 and the S&P 500 fell 4.23 points to 1,079.38.
European and Asian markets were mixed as both Germany and France reported second quarter growth that exceeded expectations.
