A record-setting drop in the U.S. economy from April to June has given way to an increasingly tepid-looking rebound as consumers appear to pull back and businesses slow rehiring, data from a variety of high-frequency sources and macro analysts indicate. The trend, seen since late June in data on cellphone movement, small business employment and other measures that slowed as the pace of coronavirus infections accelerated, was noted prominently by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a Wednesday press conference and given new weight by Thursday’s report of an increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits. The hope was for jobless benefits rolls to shrink steadily as the economy rebounded, but they rose by 867,000, to 17,018,000, during the week ended July 18, the first increase since late May. “The pace of improvement has stalled,” said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Mellon and a former […]