US DATA: ICSC sales for Jul 30 wk: “Despite hot weather driving
summer clearance sales retailers are waiting for back-to-school shopping
to pick up speed. As a result weekly retail sales slipped slightly
(-0.3%) for the week ending July 30, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs
Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis retail sales
continued to remain positive but slowed to 4.0 percent.”