US DATA: ICSC sales for Jan 15 wk: “Ice and snow storms during the
past week played havoc with the consumers’ ability to shop. Overall, for
the week ending January 15, sales slipped slightly by 0.1 percent,
according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. In
addition to the weekly sales decline, sales on a year-over-year basis
experienced their smallest gain since May 22, 2010 and slowed to 1.4
percent.”