WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the commentary from the
ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot released Wednesday:
The ICSC-Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) chain-store sales index for the
latest week ending on February 19 jumped by 2.6%, which more than offset
the prior week’s decline. The recent rollercoaster pattern is not
uncommon at times of low volume and high noise from weather and other
seemingly small factors that get amplified. During the past week ending
Saturday, the “warm weather tease” during the period seemingly helped to
propel customer traffic, according to the ICSC-GS consumer tracking
survey. Weather Trends International (WTI) reported that national
temperatures over the last week were considerably warmer than last year
by 10.0F and 7.5F warmer than the long-term national average.
Temperatures, WTI observed, “soared into the 70s and 80s across the
South, while across the North Central states and Northeast highs climbed
into the 50s and 60s making this the second warmest [comparable or
third] week of February in 19 years. [However,] the West turned cold and
wet as a series of strong Pacific storms brought valley rain and
mountain snow, which [may have been somewhat] favorable for winter
clearance.” But consumer discretionary purchasing power continued to be
whittled by rising gasoline prices. According to the U.S. Energy
Information Agency, the average price of a gallon of regular-grade
gasoline rose to $3.189 per gallon on February 21 from its prior weeks
reading–which was up 20.1% from the same week of the prior year and was
the highest since October 6, 2008 ($3.484).
Looking ahead to February’s fiscal-month sales, ICSC projects that
industry sales will post a gain of 2.5% to 3.0%.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: MAUDT$,MAUDS$,M$U$$$]
