Consumer Sentiment: From Dour to Dourer

Investors were eager to waive goodbye to June after retailers reported soggy same-store sales on Thursday. The only problem: July doesn't look much better.

Consumer sentiment for the first week of the month fell to its lowest level since March, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

Its preliminary index of confidence for July fell to 64.6 from the final reading of 70.8 in June. Economists' media forecast for the month was 70.8.

Consumer expectations for the month fell to 60.9 from June's final reading of 69.2, while the index of current economic conditions slipped to 70.4 from June's final reading of 73.2.

Despite the sour news shares of retailers were mixed in Friday-morning trading, with the S&P Retail Index up 1% to 311.78.

One of the biggest movers early in the day was PriceSmart(PSMT Quote), which tumbled 13% to $16.26 after reporting an 18% drop in third-quarter profit.

Target(TGT Quote) shed 1% to $38.03, while rival Wal-Mart Stores(WMT Quote) dropped .7% to $47.75.

Department store Stein Mart(SMRT Quote) was in the green, gaining 7% to $8.32 in morning trading, while Aeropostale(ARO Quote) jumped 3% to $33.58.