Reports May Show More Spending, Debt

The Federal Reserve’s decision last week to raise interest rates should look prescient when reports on chain-store sales and consumer credit are issued this week. The reports, coming Thursday, are likely to show that consumers, blessed with plentiful jobs and rising incomes, spent more in retail chain stores in June and piled on more debt in May.

Chain-store sales should register a 4% to 5% gain in June from the same month last year, following a 6.8% year-over-year increase in May, said Ryan Brecht, an economist at Standard & Poor’s MMS.

Borrowing through credit cards, auto loans and other personal loans probably rose by $5.2 billion in May after rising $3.7 billion during April, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

Other economic reports this week:

* The Commerce Department will report Tuesday on May housing completions. The report is likely to show that builders finished 1.65 million houses during the month, a rise of 0.4% from April.

* The Labor Department will release its weekly report Thursday on first-time jobless claims. Jobless claims probably rose 8,000 to 307,000 in the week ended Saturday, still staying at a level that suggests people aren’t having a hard time finding jobs.

* The Commerce Department on Thursday will release figures on May wholesale inventories, which probably rose 0.2% after rising the same amount in April. Wholesale sales probably increased 0.5% during May.