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    July Retail Sales Report Will Show Delta Variant's Impact on Spending

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    The Commerce Department is set to report retail sales on Tuesday, and economists expect that spending dipped in July. Many cities and states in the U.S. were forced to rethink reopening plans last month as coronavirus cases rose, driven by the Delta variant, while the rate of vaccinations slowed.“We’re seeing caution around the board where people are trying to minimize any potential exposure to the Delta variant,” said Joseph Song, a senior U.S. economist at Bank of America. The unsteady reopening of the economy has been causing sales to shift month to month. After a drop in May, spending increased by 0.6 percent in June. However, spending on cars, car parts, building materials, furniture and sporting goods declined despite the rise in overall sales.A global shortage of computer chips has slowed down car and truck production in recent months, with companies like Ford, Daimler and BMW feeling the effects on their financial performance.The shortage continues to weigh down the automotive industry despite the rise in consumer prices, which increased by 5.4 percent last month compared with a year earlier, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index showed on Wednesday.The report could also show a drop in e-commerce sales.“One of the main reasons for July’s weakness was due to a slowdown in online retail sales (card not present), which we believe owes in large part to the timing of Prime Day promotions this year,” Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America, wrote in a note on Friday. Prime Day, usually held on July, took place in mid-June.A decline in sales could signal a slowdown in the broader economic recovery in August. Consumer sentiment tumbled more than 13 percent in early August from July, according to preliminary results from the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index.A string of financial reports from retail giants will be announced this week. Walmart and Home Depot report on Tuesday, with Macy’s, Kohl’s and Target following later in the week. The results could give more perspective on the Delta variant’s effect on consumer spending. More

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    For Many Workers, Change in Mask Policy Is a Nightmare

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    After a shift by the C.D.C., employers withdrew mask policies that workers felt were protecting them from unvaccinated customers.The Kroger supermarket in Yorktown, Va., is in a county where mask wearing can be casual at best. Yet for months, the store urged patrons to cover their noses and mouths, and almost everyone complied. More

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    Gap Sees Its Post-Pandemic Future Outside of Malls

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    The retailer’s first-quarter sales jumped 89 percent to $4 billion from a year earlier as its e-commerce continues to grow.Gap has long been among the biggest operators of mall stores in the country. But after the pandemic, it will have a much smaller presence in traditional indoor malls as it closes Gap and Banana Republic locations and bets on the expansion of its Old Navy and Athleta brands. More

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    A New Crop in Pennsylvania: Warehouses

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    OREFIELD, Pa. — From his office in an old barn on a turkey farm, David Jaindl watches a towering flat-screen TV with video feeds from the hatchery to the processing room, where the birds are butchered. Mr. Jaindl is a third-generation farmer in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. His turkeys are sold at Whole Foods and served at the White House on Thanksgiving. More

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    At Saks, Return to Office Means Mandatory Vaccines, Optional Manicures

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    Marc Metrick, the company’s chief executive, says employees will have more flexibility but for reasons having to do with corporate culture, “the default needs to be our office.”After more than a year of remote work, Marc Metrick, the chief executive of Saks, has a message for the company’s 500 corporate employees in New York: Starting in September, the office will again become the company’s primary workplace. More

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    Retail Sales Were Flat in April

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    Retail sales held steady in April after rising 10.7 percent the previous month, as Americans continued to spend government stimulus payments.Retail sales were flat last month after a buoyant March, the Commerce Department said on Friday, as Americans continued spending their latest round of government stimulus checks.April’s number was a slowdown from the prior month, when retail sales rose by 10.7 percent, as vaccinations increased and people became more comfortable outside of their homes, spending more money on clothing, restaurants, bars and sporting goods. Retail sales, which experienced record drops just over a year ago at the onset of the pandemic, have been closely watched as monthly gauges of the health of the economy and the mind-set of consumers.

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    Monthly retail sales
    Seasonally adjusted advance monthly sales for retail and food services.Source: Commerce DepartmentBy The New York TimesEconomists at Morgan Stanley had anticipated a smaller increase in retail sales in April compared with March based on stimulus check distribution, with roughly 83 percent of this latest round distributed in the back half of March. More