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 8/5/08 For wk 8/2 2008 | ||||||||
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Highlights
Sales at chain stores, in a near certain contrast to sales at auto dealers, proved unusually strong in the Aug. 2 week, according to both ICSC-UBS and now Redbook where year-on-year sales spiked to 3.5 percent. Both reports said tax holidays in a number of states gave a big boost to back-to-school sales. Chain stores will report their results for July on Thursday and early indications, including from ICSC-UBS and Redbook, point to no let down from June as the winding down of tax rebates has yet -- apparently -- to hit store sales.
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