Gap Store Sales Unexpectedly Fell In June

Gap Inc. announced that it's comparable store sales, which includes online sales, fell by 2%.

According to Bloomberg, sales were expected to increase by around 0.8%.

"Despite softer June results at Gap and Banana Republic, we remain focused on delivering in the upcoming Fall season," said CEO Glenn Murphy.

Gap stores and Banana Republic stores each saw sales tumble 7%. Old Navy store sales, however, grew by 7%.

Management didn't have much more to say about that.

However a slew of big retail chains have been reporting disappointing results in recent days. The Container Store, Family Dollar, and Lumber Liquidators all had the economy to blame.

"Consistent with so many of our fellow retailers, we are experiencing a retail 'funk,'" said Container Store CEO Kip Tindell. "While consumers are buying homes and automobiles and even high ticket furniture, most segments of retail are, like us, seeing more challenging sales than we had hoped early in 2014 - so we're not alone in this."

These anecdotes seem to contradict economists' expectations that the U.S. economy and its consumers saw a sharp snapback in activity following the unusually cold winter.

However, broader, more reliable economic indicators like rail car loads and unemployment insurance claims reflect an economy that is on the up and up.