·
Last week, chain store sales recovered
0.8% following the prior week's 0.4% dip, according to the International
Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS.
· Sales so far in November are 0.7% ahead of October.
· Not so positive was the second consecutive 0.5% weekly decline in the leading indicator of chain store sales from ICSC. The monthly average is up just 0.2% from October which rose 0.4% from September.
· During the last ten years there has been a 60% correlation between y/y change in chain store sales and the change in non-auto retail sales less gasoline.
· The ICSC-UBS retail chain-store sales index is constructed using the same-store sales reported by 78 stores of seven retailers: Dayton Hudson, Federated, Kmart, May, J.C. Penney, Sears and Wal-Mart.
· This 2001 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York examines "The Effect of Tax Changes on Consumer Spending".