WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the commentary from the
ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released Tuesday:
Despite the Fathers Day sales incentive consumers continued to
hold back on their discretionary spending and gave retailers their
second week of sales declines this past week. Overall, for the week
ending June 18, weekly retail sales slipped by 0.7 percent, according to
the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a
year-over-year basis retail sales continued to moderate and slowed from
the prior week to 2.2 percent.
“It appears that sales over the last week were soft as some
increased promotional activity seemingly held back reported sales a
tad,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief
economist. “As we head into the last two weeks of the fiscal month, it
appears that sales are tracking weaker, and, as a result, the forecast
for the month has been trimmed to between 2.0 to 3.0 percent excluding
the impact of fuel and between 3.0 to 4.0 percent with fuel,” added
Niemira.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MAUDT$,MAUDS$,M$U$$$]
