August Retail Sales May Disappoint. Blame Amazon Prime Day.

Consumer spending showed no signs of slowing when the Commerce Department published July data last month. But those results may have come at a cost, according to one analyst. Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Michelle Meyer wrote in a note Wednesday morning that she estimated consumer spending pulled back in August. Based on credit- and debit-card data, she thinks retail sales, excluding the automobile sector and seasonally adjusted, fell 0.5% month over month. One major factor she cited is summer promotions, such as Amazon Prime Day in July. “In our view, these promotions effectively pulled forward demand into July and out of August,” she wrote. In other words, retailers may have robbed Peter to pay Paul. Read more at Barron’s.