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 4/15/08 For wk 4/12 2008 | ||||||||
| ||||||||
Highlights
Redbook like ICSC-UBS earlier this morning reports a burst of strength in store sales, at a year-on-year rate of +2.0% in the April 12 week vs. +0.8 percent in the prior week. And like ICSC-UBS, Redbook attributes the gain to warm weather. An easy comparison with last year, when stores were closed for Easter Sunday, also helped results. But a string of similar results will be needed throughout April to lift retail sales which, in a reminder from yesterday's retail trade report for March, are at their worst levels since early in the expansion.
powered by
![[Econoday]](../../../../../../../../../images/logo.gif){kind=logo}