Markets trading ahead of the JSE’s opening on Wednesday morning were flat as they digested the raised likelihood of a US interest rates increase after Tuesday’s release of retail sales data.US retail sales beat expectations by growing 4.2% in July from the same month in 2016 — against the expected 3%. That raised the likelihood of the US Federal Reserve Bank increasing interest ratesThe health of the South African retail industry will be in the spotlight on Wednesday with Italtile scheduled to release its results and Statistics SA its June retail sales report at 1pm.The JSE’s retailers are likely to dominate next week’s business news with Shoprite scheduled to release results on Tuesday and Woolworths on Thursday.A poll of economists done by Trading Economics found the consensus is that SA’s annual retail sales grew 2.1% in June, up from 1.7% in May.Investec Bank economist Kamilla Kaplan said in her weekly economic forecast, e-mailed on Friday, that she expects June retail sales gro...
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