WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the commentary from the
ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released Tuesday:
Spring fever continued to spread across the nation as consumers
headed to stores for seasonal and Easter-related merchandise. As a
result weekly retail sales remained encouraging and rose by 0.6 percent,
based on the International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc. (ICSC) and
Goldman Sachs (GS) retail sales tracking index. On a year-over-year
basis, sales also remained positive but slowed a bit to 3.2 percent.
“Sales posted a healthy gain during the past week but overall
results were impacted by mixed influences with weather uneven across the
nation,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC director of research and chief
economist. “Easter-related and other seasonal spending strengthened as
consumers continued to release some of their pent-up demand. ICSC
Research continues to expect sales will increase by at least 3.0 to 3.5
percent on a year-over-year basis with easy year-ago comparisons and a
lift from the Easter shift in the calendar,” Niemira added.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MAUDT$,MAUDS$,M$U$$]
