Texas manufacturing growth in August dropped to its lowest level since May 2020 and the retail sales index stayed negative for the sixth consecutive month, also similar to the pandemic recession, new Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas surveys show. The statistics were reflected in lighter loads and weaker power prices. The Texas Retail Outlook Survey’s retail sales index for August, released Aug. 30, was minus 5.4%, which is the difference between the 29.7% of respondents reporting an increase in sales month on month, and the 35.1% reporting a decrease. This is an improvement from the July survey’s minus 19.4% retail sales index but is the sixth month in a row of monthly decreases, which previously happened from February through August 2020. “Retailers’ inventories continued to increase on net, although the inventories index’s decline from 13.2% to 2.5% suggests a significantly reduced pace of increase,” the Dallas Fed said. Data […]