ICSC: Retail sales rise 0.1%

FEARS FOR THE ECONOMY are spurring consumers to cut back on apparel purchases, analyst Eric Beder said. Above, Chelsea Cronin checks out the swimsuit selection at a Target in San Diego. /
FEARS FOR THE ECONOMY are spurring consumers to cut back on apparel purchases, analyst Eric Beder said. Above, Chelsea Cronin checks out the swimsuit selection at a Target in San Diego. /

NEW YORK – Sales at U.S. retail stores open at least one year rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent over the past week, matching the previous week’s increase, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC report for the seven days ended July 7, Bloomberg News.

Compared with the same week of 2006, same-store retail sales rose 2.4 percent last week after rising 2.5 percent the previous week.

“We’re in a period of really low growth in consumer spending on apparel,” Eric Beder, an analyst at Brean Murray Carret & Co. in New York, told Bloomberg News. “The consumer sees the whole montage of negative events and leads them to less spending, more saving.”

For all of June, sales may have posted their smallest year-over-year gain in 16 years, the ICSC and UBS said. Their report a week ago pared their earlier estimate of 2.0 percent, estimating that June sales rose only 1.5 percent to 0.2 percent. Their final report for June is due Thursday.

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The International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based trade group, and investment bank UBS track same-store sales at about 60 chains that represent about 10 percent of U.S. retail sales. Additional information is available at www.icsc.org.

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