NEW YORK – Sales at U.S. retail stores open at least one year fell 1.5 percent over the past week, after rising 0.8 percent the week before, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC report for the seven days ended May 19, Bloomberg News said.
Compared with the same week of 2006, sales rose 1.9 percent last week after rising 2.8 percent the week before, the ICSC said.
Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, yesterday said sales at stores open at least a year will rise as much as 7 percent in May after falling 6.1 percent in April, while No. 1 Wal-Mart has said its sales may rise 1 to 2 percent this month. Meanwhile, No. 2 home-improvement retailer Lowe’s has pared its earnings forecasts for the year as the lagging real estate market continues to eat into its sales nationwide.
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“Consumers faced strong headwinds,” wrote Mike Niemira, the ICSC’s chief economist, who compiles the report. He cited cooler-than-normal weather that pared demand for spring and summer merchandise, along with record-high gasoline prices that left shoppers with less to spend.
In a second ICSC-UBS survey, conducted May 17 to 20 to gauge the impact of higher gas prices, the highest percentage of consumers since October 2005 said they had cut back on discretionary spending. “Better May sales could lend a slight lift, but we do not expect a substantial rebound,” wrote Michelle Tan, a UBS analyst.
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.
