Retail sales sluggish ($RLX, WMT, JCP, TGT, FD, MAY, S) By Rex Nutting
Retail chain store sales are sluggish, according to two private weekly surveys. Instinet's Redbook survey showed sales in the first three weeks of November were down 0.2 percent compared with October. "The sales environment was slightly weaker overall," Redbook said. Meanwhile, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi/UBSW weekly index rose 0.9 percent last week compared with the previous week. Sales were tracking 2 percent higher than a year ago. Sales were on to below plan for most retailers, BTM said. For November, BTM expects comparable store sales to be flat from last year.
Retail chain store sales are sluggish, according to two private weekly surveys. Instinet's Redbook survey showed sales in the first three weeks of November were down 0.2 percent compared with October. "The sales environment was slightly weaker overall," Redbook said. Meanwhile, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi/UBSW weekly index rose 0.9 percent last week compared with the previous week. Sales were tracking 2 percent higher than a year ago. Sales were on to below plan for most retailers, BTM said. For November, BTM expects comparable store sales to be flat from last year.
