Jan 8, 2008

Ahead of the Bell: Retail SalesBy APBusinessWeek.com

Wall Street on Tuesday will get an assessment of post-holiday shopping with the release of two sets of weekly retail sales reports.

The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS Index and the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index release data at 7:45 a.m. and 8:55 a.m. EST, respectively. There are no consensus estimates available.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index, which monitors 9,000 retail units, showed same-store sales edged up 1.6 percent for the week ended Dec. 29, compared with the year-ago period. However, same-store sales fell 0.7 percent compared with November’s results.

The ICSC-UBS Index, which tracks 53 stores, reported that same-store sales, or revenue at stores open at least a year, slipped 0.2 percent from the prior week ended Dec. 29. Same-store sales grew by 2.3 percent from a year earlier.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

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