US chains lured shoppers in July with discounts

Deep discounts and the warmest July weather in decades brought U.S. shoppers to malls, helping many retail chains report healthy monthly sales increases at established stores. July figures provide an early read on consumer demand in the U.S. economy at the start of the back-to-school season, the second-biggest selling period of the year after Christmas. Warehouse club Costco and teen apparel chain Hot Topic posted some of the biggest gains so far. Costco Wholesale Corp reported a 10 percent rise in total July sales at stores open at least a year, beating the analysts' average estimate of an