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 6/5/07 For wk 6/2 2007 | ||||||||
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Highlights
Early signs for May retail sales are not good. The chain stores that have reported have largely reported poor results, and two weekly chain-store reports, ICSC-UBS, released earlier this morning, and now Redbook both report weakness. Redbook's year-on-year tally was up a puny 1.8 percent for the June 2 week. The report said retailers are blaming tough comparisons, and once again, bad weather for the trouble. The bulk of chain stores will release their monthly results on Thursdays while the Commerce Department will release the retail trade report on Friday. Another weak report could jumble the economic outlook.
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