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Economy in Brief
German PPI Accelerates
The German year-on-year PPI has generally been decelerating since early 2017...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Signal Continued Expansion
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% during March...
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
U.K. Retail Sales Fall
U.K. GDP is expected to cool its jets when the first quarter GDP number is released...
by Tom Moeller March 4, 2008
The International Council of Shopping Centers ICSC-UBS Chain Store survey indicated that chain store sales fell 0.6% last week. The decline finished a four week period during which sales moved sideways. However, due to a firm 1.7% rise to open February sales for all of the month rose 0.4% from January following that month's 1.3% surge.
During the last ten years there has been a 45% correlation between the y/y change in chain store sales and the change in nonauto retail sales less gasoline.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.
During the latest week the leading indicator of chain store sales from ICSC-UBS fell 0.3% after a 0.8% decline during the prior period.The index has trended steadily lower since early January.
An Expanded Look at Employment from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis can be found here.
ICSC-UBS (SA, 1977=100) | 03/01/08 | 02/23/08 | Y/Y | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Weekly Chain Store Sales | 487.0 | 489.9 | 2.1% | 2.8% | 3.3% | 3.6% |