P.M. BRIEFING : Retail Sales Rebound Slightly in June After Slump in May

Business rebounded at stores last month from May’s slump, but many of the nation’s largest retailers still had unimpressive sales growth, according to results released today.

Modest improvements were scattered unevenly throughout the department stores, general merchandise chains plus apparel and other specialty retailers that reported their June revenues.

Nevertheless, retail analysts said the trend over the last two months has been disappointing.

June marked “a continuation of a generally slow-growth retail sales environment,” said Jeffrey Feiner of Merrill Lynch & Co. “To some degree, lower price discount operators, such as Target, Wal-Mart and K mart, are doing better than the general industry, indicative of an extremely cost-conscious consumer.”

An index compiled by Merrill Lynch measuring sales at 17 nationwide retailers rose 5.8% in June, up from 5.2% in May.