Michigan Retailers Association/Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Michigan Retail Index July 2007 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html July Performance Retailers reporting increased, decreased or unchanged sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring compared to the same month a year ago (numbers in parentheses indicate June results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 46 (45) 32 (32) 13 (23) 55.3 (52.1) 101 (136) Inventory 27 (31) 32 (23) 28 (43) 41.9 (51.3) 96 (133) Prices 28 (31) 8 (5) 56 (60) 56.3 (61.9) 102 (131) Promotions 28 (28) 7 (6) 54 (63) 55.9 (60.4) 98 (133) Hiring 12 (14) 15 (10) 62 (73) 42.9 (49.9) 98 (132) Outlook for Next 3 Months Retailers expecting increased, decreased or unchanged sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring compared to the same period a year ago (numbers in parentheses indicate June results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 49 (50) 20 (22) 20 (25) 59.6 (60.9) 98 (133) Inventory 31 (31) 25 (29) 32 (37) 45.3 (46.8) 97 (133) Prices 38 (32) 4 (7) 47 (57) 62.3 (61.7) 98 (131) Promotions 38 (37) 7 (6) 45 (54) 59.9 (63.7) 99 (132) Hiring 13 (12) 12 (9) 59 (73) 43.9 (48.0) 93 (129) July Sales Performance & Outlook for Next 3 Months, by Region (the first number indicates sales performance for the month; the number in parentheses indicates outlook for the next three months) % Increased % Decreased % No Change North 44 (25) 37 (25) 19 (43) West 50 (55) 30 (25) 10 (10) Central 45 (65) 30 (10) 20 (20) East 17 (33) 50 (17) 33 (50) Southeast 53 (55) 32 (25) 10 (12)*Seasonally adjusted diffusion index. A diffusion index, which is the sum of the percent of respondents indicating increase and half the percent indicating no change, is calculated and then seasonally adjusted using the U.S. Census Bureau's X-11 Seasonal Adjustment procedure. Index values above 50 generally indicate an increase in activity, while values below 50 indicate a decrease.
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