US Economy Appears Dimmer After Retail Report Released

16 July 2012 12:30 - Phoebe Robinson

US Economy Appears Dimmer After Retail Report Released

The release of a report that Americans spent less at retail business for the third month in a row has cast a shadow over the US economy. The report has forced some economists to downgrade their estimates for economic growth in April-June quarter. Economists are now downgrading their estimates for economic growth in April-June quarter. An increasing number of people now feel that the economy grew even less than in the first quarter of the year in which it only expanded by a pathetic 1.9%. 

US spending in June fell in nearly every major sector, including vehicles, furniture and appliances to building and even more. In total retail sales fell 0.5% from May to June. The Commerce Department said that retail sales had not fallen for three months in a row since the crisis in 2008. After this report was released stocks fell. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 74 points in early trading, but later in the morning some stock regained ground. Other indexes have also declined.

"However hard you look, there's just no good news in this report at all," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.”

It has been said that overall economic growth fell to an annual rate of 1.5% in the second quarter. This figure will not lower unemployment which is a major concern in the US economy at the moment, the US unemployment rate is 8.2%.