US DATA: ICSC says “Mother Nature provided the blast of cold air
that retailers sorely needed this past week. As a result weekly retail
sales rose by 1.3 percent the strongest week-over-week pace since mid
July, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales
Index. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales gained momentum and rose
by 3.4 percent. This was the strongest year-over-year gain since last
September.”