Consumer Cos Up After Strong Spending Data -- Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer-services companies rose after strong spending data.

Personal spending--measuring what Americans spent on everything from haircuts to cars--rose 0.3% in July from a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was the strongest pickup since April.

Personal income--reflecting Americans' wages and investment earnings--grew 0.4%, the biggest jump since February.

Recent housing data has indicated that a shrinking supply of homes for sale has slowed activity in the housing market, an unexpected twist for an industry whose observers usually focus on mortgage rates and home prices as leading indicators. The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index declined 0.8% from the prior month to 109.1 in July, the latest sign of a sales slowdown.

Campbell Soup shares fell, as the soup maker struggled to keep up with changing consumer diets, and posted another retreat in quarterly revenue.

Shares of discounter Dollar General declined as stronger-than-expected quarterly sales could not allay fears about the shift of consumer spending to online.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 31, 2017 16:36 ET (20:36 GMT)