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Economy in Brief
U.S. Energy Prices Ease
Gasoline prices fell four cents last week to an average $2.84 per gallon (+14.6% y/y)...
German PPI Makes Sharp Gain on Rising Energy Costs
The German PPI rose by a strong 0.6% in September, but the PPI excluding energy gained just 0.1%...
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Fall Further
The FIBER Industrial Materials Price Index declined 1.3% during the last four weeks...
Japan’s METI Sector Indexes Rebound But Still Lag
Japan's economy continues to fight for revival...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Weaken, Dragging Down Prices
The NAR reported that sales of existing homes during September declined 3.4% to 5.150 million...
by Tom Moeller April 12, 2005
Chain store sales rose 0.3% for the second week according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS survey. The increase last week pulled the average level in April about even with March.
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 fell by 0.2% (-1.5% y/y), the third consecutive weekly decline.
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.
| ICSC-UBS (SA, 1977=100) | 04/09/05 | 04/02/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Weekly Chain Store Sales | 452.9 | 451.5 | 3.9% | 4.6% | 2.9% | 3.6% |
