Swiss [B]Retail Sales[/B] probably declined in the year through June for the second straight month after labor market weakness contributed to an already dwindling consumer demand base. Indeed, the seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate rose more than expected, by 0.3 percentage points to nearly a 4-year high of 3.8%. Such conditions probably left the public with even less free cash in their pockets to spend on various goods. To add to the downward spiral, consumer prices contracted by more than expected in July, by -0.7%. Seeing that prices are sticky, it may have taken at least one month for the decline in the previous month’s spending to weigh on prices of the current period. As such a decline in prices may have been led by plummeting employment and thus dwindling consumption.