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Economy in Brief
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Declines in January
Consumers reduced credit balances further in January...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to $68.2 Billion in January
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $68.2 billion in January...
German Order Growth Gets Back in Gear Despite the Headwinds
German order growth is back in gear with total orders rising by 1.4% m/m in January...
U.S. Factory Orders & Shipments Rise Again in January
Manufacturing activity is strengthening. Factory orders rose 2.6% (2.8% y/y) in January...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Just 9,000
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly by 9,000 to 745,000 in the week ended February 27...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 29, 2005
Chain store sales fell 1.0% last week. Abundant rain, warm temperatures and, versus February, a 12% rise in gasoline prices to an average $2.15 per gallon may have caused the spending decline. The y/y gain in sales improved in part due to the early timing of Easter in 2005.
Consumers' pause came after spending enough to lift the average of sales in March 1.1% ahead of February according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS survey.
During the last ten years there has been a 56% correlation between the y/y change in chain store sales and the change in non-auto retail sales less gasoline, as published by the US Census Department. Chain store sales correspond directly with roughly 14% of nonauto retail sales less gasoline.
The leading indicator of chain store sales from ICSC slipped 0.5% (-0.6% y/y) and gave back all of the moderate gains during the prior two weeks.
The ICSC-UBS retail chain-store sales index is constructed using the same-store sales (stores open for one year) reported by 78 stores of seven retailers: Dayton Hudson, Federated, Kmart, May, J.C. Penney, Sears and Wal-Mart.
Consumer Sentiment, the Economy, and the News Media from the Federal Reserve Board can be found here.
ICSC-UBS (SA, 1977=100) | 03/26/05 | 03/19/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Weekly Chain Store Sales | 450.2 | 454.6 | 4.5% | 4.6% | 2.9% | 3.6% |