WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the commentary from the
ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released
Tuesday:
Retailers faced their third consecutive week of weekly sales
declines as consumers pulled back once again on their spending as
concerns of slowing economic activity takes another firm hold. Given
this, for the week ending August 13, weekly retail sales declined by 1.5
percent, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales
Index. On a year-over-year basis retail sales slowed to 3.5 percent.
“Last week’s large scale stock market drops and wild volatility
added to consumers concerns about the slowing and failing economy and as
a result pulled back on their overall spending once again,” said Michael
Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. “The one
positive is that gasoline prices dropped across the country last week,
which might begin to restore some consumer confidence for the rest of
the month-even though gasoline prices at the pump remain up about 31
percent from the same point in 2010,” Niemira added.
For the month, ICSC Research forecasts August sales will increase
by between 4.0 and 5.0 percent and by 3.0 and 4.0 percent, excluding the
impact of fuel compared with a 4.6 percent gain in July or 3.5 percent
less the fuel sales impact that have been inflated by higher gasoline
prices at the pump.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MAUDT$,MAUDS$,M$U$$$]