Recent Updates
- UK: **Retail Sales rebased to 2016=100**
- Ireland: **GDP Rereferenced to Chained 2016 Euros**
- US: Composite Indexes (Jun)
- Canada: Employment Insurance (May), Nonres Building Construction (Q2)
- US: Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook (Jul)
- Ireland: BOP (Q1)
- Jordan: Tourism; Egypt: Foreign Trade Summary (May)
- UK: Retail Sales (Jun), RICS Commercial Market Survey (Q2)
- Germany: Public Sector Finance (Q1)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Recover; Prices Surge
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rebounded to 25.7 during July...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Hit Lowest Since 1969
Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 207,000 during the week ended July 14...
Japan's Trade Deficit Swings Back to Surplus (Small Surplus)
Japan's early June trade results show a goods trade position having swung back to surplus in June from deficit in May...
U.S. Housing Starts Weaken Unexpectedly
Total housing starts declined 12.3% (-4.2% y/y) during June to 1.173 million (AR)...
U.S. Mortgage Loan Applications Reverse Earlier Increase
The MBA total Mortgage Applications Index declined 2.5% last week (-12.8% y/y)...
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% |
