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US retail sales bounce back
RETAIL sales in the US spiked by 0.8 per cent last month, surprising analysts and providing a glimmer of hope for the American recovery.
The figure represented the first time in four months that retail sales had grown, while June’s result was revised down from a 0.5 per cent fall to a 0.7 per cent fall.
From May to July, retail sales in the US were just 0.5 per cent higher than at the same time last year.
Yet Harm Bandholz, an economist at UniCredit in New York, was optimistic. “Here comes the US consumer,” he said.