Sales Rise, Slip, all at once.
Noted this morning:
Chain Store Sales Slip in Latest Week
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chain store retail sales continue to fall during the week following the Thanksgiving holiday, a retail report said on Tuesday.
Sales fell 1.7 percent in the week ended December 4, compared with a 1.5 percent decline in the previous week, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in a joint report.
And then a little later today once the Redbook numbers come out:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. chain store sales rose in the week ended December 4, as average sales were generally ahead of last year, but customer counts were down, a report said on Tuesday.
Compared with December a year ago, sale rose 1.8 percent, following a 0.9 rise in the previous week. But compared with November, December to-date sales were down 0.8 percent.
“This disproportionate sales pattern has intensified in recent years as customers have learned to shop either at the last minute before the holiday or in the week after Christmas to exploit merchant markdowns,” said Redbook Research, an independent company.
So which is it? Are sales going up, or going down?
04.12.07 14:53 #