Further evidence emerged this morning that the bombs in London on July 7, which killed more than 50 people, had little impact on the high street In its monthly distributive trades survey, the Confederation of British Industry revealed that the position of retailers after the terrorist attacks was "largely unaffected" The CBI's assessment echoes that of GfK Martin Hamblin, which last week said consumer confidence was unaffected by the attacks and may ease concerns on the Bank of England's rate-setting body that the bombs may drive an already struggling retail sector further into gloom The impact of the second set of attacks two weeks later will only be evident in the August survey, CBI added Though the first set of attacks had little impact on the high street, the underlying state of the consumer sector remains weak, and is likely to be enough for the Monetary Policy Committee to cut its key repo rate a quarter point on Thursday on the conclusion of its two-day meeting The CBI said sales continued to fall in July, with 47 pct of retailers saying they were down on the previous year compared with 29 pct saying they were up. The ensuing balance of -18 pct is slightly better than June's -19 pct and ahead of market expectations of a balance of -25 pct The business lobby group said retailers have not seen an increase in annual sales since the end of 2004, which is probably a reflection of the continuing anxiety over the housing market, interest rates and possible tax increases The expected sales balance for August stands at -17 pct The underlying sales trend, which takes the average of the last three months, fell to -15 pct in July from -13 pct in June and marks the lowest rate since the survey began 22 years ago The CBI also said orders in July continued to fall at the fastest rate since July 1999 and are expected to fall again in August The orders balance stood at -7 pct from 0 in June. It expected to get worse in August, with the expected balance standing at -13 pct The CBI said there was some evidence of improvement from June, most notably in the grocery sector. However, big falls were reported in the furniture and carpet sector "When considered alongside the weakness of order books in the manufacturing sector and the depressed state of the housing market, a marked slowdown in the economy is clear to see," said the CBI's director general Digby Jones The CBI also said orders in July continued to fall at the fastest rate since July 1999 and are expected to fall again in August The orders balance stood at -7 pct from 0 in June. It expected to get worse in August, with the expected balance standing at -13 pct