August retail sales: Good or bad?

Tom Blumer of the Newsbusters web site notes that the business media has reported the August retail sales figures in widely different ways.

An Associated Press story called the results weak, while the Dayton Business Journal said in its story that they “surged” during the month.

Wrote Blumer: “How can this be? Although looking at monthly results is important, the second article covers year-ago comparisons that the AP chose not to report on. 6%-plus year-over-year retail sales increases are way ahead of inflation (to be fair, the Dayton paper should have indicated immediately that the 6% was a year-over-year figure). Since July was so strong, it’s not surprising that there was a bit of a breather in August.

“The second report is the better bet. Too bad most people will only see or hear about the first one.”

Read more here.