Research >> Economics
ICSC Chain Store Sales up 0.1% in Aug 28 Wk
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The ICSC-Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) chain store sales index for the week ending August 28 rose by a moderate 0.1% on a week-over-week basis. The latest weeks increase broke an extended week-over-week drop that lasted four consecutive weeks. The fiscal month ended mixed, but slightly better than during the majority of the month. Over the last week, customer traffic weakened overall, but improved modestly for discounters. Nationwide, the seasonably warm weather continued to curb fall and back-to-school apparel merchandise demand. According to Weather Trends International (WTI) unseasonably hot weather lingered for its 14th consecutive week with temperatures trending both hotter than last year by 1.4F degrees and above its long-term average for the nation as a whole by 1.3F degrees.
WTI observed further that August is on track to be the hottest August in 15 years, but regionally California is shaping up to have its coldest August in over 20 years. That unevenness in the weather added to the unevenness of the sales during the month. Finally, on August 30, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline at the pump declined by about 2 cents (and cumulative about 10 cents per gallon over the last three weeks) to $2.682 — the lowest since late February — and was about 3% higher than the same week of the prior year.
Posted: August 31, 2010 Tuesday 07:45 AM