http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/08/13/july-retail-sales/13991621/
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There are reasons to twist economic news reports with the intention of influencing the consumer of such news. Economic news reports always contain a collection of snapshot statistics from which it is impossible to draw any net conclusion. The best way to interpret the economic news is to listen to all of it, average it out, look at the motives, evaluate the practical effects that you can see, and add pure intuition to reach a conclusion.