A weekly measure of sales at chain stores, discounters, and department stores. It is a less consistent indicator of retail sales than the weekly ICSC index. It is also calculated differently than other indicators. For instance, figures for the first week of the month are compared with the average for the entire previous month. When two weeks are available, then these are compared with the average for the previous month, and so on. It might be more useful to compare year-over-year figures since these are indeed compared to the comparable week a year ago. This index is correlated with the general merchandise portion of retail sales covering only about 10 percent of total retail sales. Why Investors Care
| Released on 4/24/07 For wk 4/21 2007 | ||||||||
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Highlights
Chain store sales fell 0.2 percent in the April 21 week compared with the year-ago week, in data that for a second week reflect the Easter calendar shift. Redbook also said cool weather hurt sales of seasonal goods. Easter often garbles the retail picture during March and April, making it necessary to combine the months together. Chain stores themselves have been mostly quiet so far on April sales, though leading discount chain Target warned late yesterday that the month's sales will be much softer than expected as will the combined March to April period.
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