Recent Updates
- China: 70-City Property Prices (Sep), Capacity Utilization, GDP (Q3)
- US: Regional Retail Sales (Sep)
- Spain: Motor Vehicle Registrations (Sep)
- Canada Regional: CPI by Province (Sep), Retail Trade by Province (Aug)
- Canada: CPI (Sep), Retail Trade (Aug)
- Ireland: General Government Debt, General Government Transactions (Q2)
- Latvia: PPI (Sep)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Canadian Retail Sales Weaken As Inflation Slows
Canada's retail sales show relatively widespread deceleration...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Strengthen
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.5% (7.0% y/y) during September...
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Growth Continues; Pricing Pressure Eases
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index dipped to 22.2 during October...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Ease
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 210,000 (-8.7% y/y) during the week ended October 13...
U.K. Retail Sales: Doing Well-As-Can-Be-Expected Despite September Drop
U.K. retail sales and growth have all held up remarkably well- so far...
by Tom Moeller September 13, 2005
The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS survey indicated that chain store sales fell 0.2% last week after no change the prior week. So far this month sales are 0.5% below the August average which fell 0.1% from July.
The ICSC indicated that at least 13 shopping malls were closed indefinitely be Hurricane Katrina.
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 non-auto retail sales less gasoline.
The leading indicator of chain store sales from ICSC rose 0.4% in the latest week (-0.3% y/y) following 0.2% declines 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.
| ICSC-UBS (SA, 1977=100) | 09/10/05 | 09/03/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Weekly Chain Store Sales | 454.6 | 455.4 | 3.5% | 4.6% | 2.9% |
