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 5/15/07 For wk 5/12 2007 | ||||||||
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Highlights
Store sales rose 2.7 percent in the May 12 week compared to the year-ago week, a moderate pace confirmed by ICSC-UBS's tally of 2.6 percent released earlier this morning. Both reports said warm weather boosted sales. Retail strength in May will be closely watched given the surprising weakness of April, a month however that was distorted by the Easter calendar effect.
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