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ADVANCE MONTHLY RETAIL

SALES SUMMARY–JULY 1997

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail sales for July adjusted for seasonal, holiday, and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $212.1 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent (+/—0.7%) from the previous month and 4.5 percent (+/—0.9%) from July 1996. Total sales for the May through July period were 3.7 percent (+/—0.7%) above the same period a year ago. The May to June 1997 percent change was revised from +0.5 percent (+/—0.7%) to +0.7 percent (+/—0.5%).

Durable goods increased 0.7 percent (+/—1.4%) from June and were 4.8 percent above July 1996. Automotive dealers sales were up 5.0 percent from last year.

Nondurable goods increased 0.6 percent (+/—0.6%) from last month and were 4.2 percent above last year. General merchandise sales were up 6.8 percent from July 1996 while food sales were up 1.3 percent in the same period.

The advance estimates are based on a small subsample of the Bureau's full retail sales sample. Estimates from the advance and the subsequent full survey can differ because of the earlier reporting in the advance and because of sampling variability present in both surveys.


				Percent Changes-X
				Jul 1997	Jun 1997
				adv. from	prel. from
				Jun	Jul	May	Jun
				'97	'96	'97	'96
				prel.	final	final	final
Retail trade, total		+0.6	+4.5	+0.7	+4.0
Total, excl. auto.		+0.5	+4.3	+0.4	+3.9
Durable goods, total		+0.7	+4.8	+1.1	+4.1
Building materials, hardware,
garden supply, and mobile
home dealers			+0.9	+6.7	+0.9	+5.5
Automotive dealers		+1.0	+5.0	+1.4	+4.1
 Motor vehicle and misc.
 automotive dealers		+1.1	+5.4	+1.5	+4.4
Furniture, home furnishings
and equipment stores		—0.4	+4.8	+0.2	+5.2
Nondurable goods, total		+0.6	+4.2	+0.4	+3.9
Gen. merch. stores		+0.7	+6.8	+0.8	+6.2
 Dept. stores excl. 
  leased depts.			+0.8	+8.2	+0.8	+7.4
 incl. leased depts.		N/A	N/A	+0.5	+6.9
Food stores			+0.4	+1.3	—0.2	+1.7
Grocery stores			+0.4	+0.9	—0.2	+1.3
Gasoline service stations	+0.8	+1.5	—0.1	—1.2
Apparel and
accessory stores		+0.2	+3.1	+1.2	+2.4
Eating and drinking places	+0.4	+4.1	+0.4	+4.3
Drug and proprietary stores	+0.9	+8.1	+0.3	+8.7

X–Adjusted for seasonal, holiday, and trading-day differences.

N/A–Not available.

August 13, 1997U.S. Department of Commerce

Consensus National Futures and Financial On Line Index

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