Post by unlawflcombatnt on Sept 27, 2007 2:12:23 GMT -6
from Bloomberg:
U.S. Retailers' Sales Fell for Second Straight Week
By Joseph Galante
9/25//07
"U.S. consumers curbed purchases of clothes and home goods, pushing retail sales down for a second week amid a housing slump. Lowe's Cos. and Target Corp. cut their forecasts as customer spending slowed.
U.S. retail sales at stores open at least a year fell 1 percent last week from the previous week, and September sales may rise as little as 2 percent, less than the 2.5 percent gain previously estimated, according to a report today by the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC. The group tracks weekly sales at 75 retail-chain stores.
Higher gasoline prices and the worst U.S. housing slump in more than a decade have prompted shoppers to pull back on discretionary spending. Consumer confidence fell to the lowest level in almost two years, the Conference Board said today, raising concerns of a further scaling back on retail purchases....
Lowe's Cos., the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, said yesterday after U.S. markets closed that earnings this year may miss its previous forecast. Target Corp., the second-biggest U.S. discount chain, lowered September sales projections late yesterday after customer visits fell. Lowe's shares today plunged the most in four years on the announcement....
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate last week for the first time in four years over concerns that problems in the housing market could further constrict consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity....
Sales last week rose 2.4 percent compared with a year ago, the smallest gain in three weeks, the shopping center group said....
Lowe's fell $2.04, or 6.7 percent, to $28.51 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Mooresville, North Carolina-based company said profit may decline as much as 9 percent this year from 2006. The shares have fallen 8.5 percent this year, compared with an 18 percent drop for larger Home Depot Inc.
Target, based in Minneapolis, forecast same-store sales to rise as little as 1.5 percent, less than half of what it had projected. Target fell $2.95, or 4.6 percent, to $61.35 in New York trading....
The Johnson Redbook Index, another measure of U.S. retail sales, rose 1.6 percent last week from a year earlier, its lowest gain this month.
The index measures same-store sales at general-merchandise retailers representing about 9,000 locations. The sales are considered an industry benchmark because they exclude results from new or closed locations.
The Standard & Poor's Retailing Index of 29 companies slipped 2.7 percent, the most in three weeks. The index has declined 5.9 percent this year. It gained 9.4 percent in 2006.
The National Retail Federation and TNS Retail Forward both forecast that this year's holiday sales will increase at the slowest pace in five years....
``Typically the holiday season has a pretty high correlation to back-to-school,'' said Steven Baumgarten, an analyst at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, with $77 billion in assets including shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ``If you look at the back-to-school sales, they weren't that great.''
Wal-Mart marked down 16,000 back-to-school items in July to lure shoppers after fewer customer visits. The world's largest retailer in August cut its full-year profit forecast to as much as $3.13 a share after sales of apparel and home goods faltered. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, fell 81 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $43.16 in New York trading.
Sears Holding Corp., the largest U.S. department-store chain...(had) declining sales at stores open at least a year, which have dropped in every quarter since the merger of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Kmart Holding Corp. in 2005...."
U.S. Retailers' Sales Fell for Second Straight Week
By Joseph Galante
9/25//07
"U.S. consumers curbed purchases of clothes and home goods, pushing retail sales down for a second week amid a housing slump. Lowe's Cos. and Target Corp. cut their forecasts as customer spending slowed.
U.S. retail sales at stores open at least a year fell 1 percent last week from the previous week, and September sales may rise as little as 2 percent, less than the 2.5 percent gain previously estimated, according to a report today by the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC. The group tracks weekly sales at 75 retail-chain stores.
Higher gasoline prices and the worst U.S. housing slump in more than a decade have prompted shoppers to pull back on discretionary spending. Consumer confidence fell to the lowest level in almost two years, the Conference Board said today, raising concerns of a further scaling back on retail purchases....
Lowe's Cos., the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, said yesterday after U.S. markets closed that earnings this year may miss its previous forecast. Target Corp., the second-biggest U.S. discount chain, lowered September sales projections late yesterday after customer visits fell. Lowe's shares today plunged the most in four years on the announcement....
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate last week for the first time in four years over concerns that problems in the housing market could further constrict consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity....
Sales last week rose 2.4 percent compared with a year ago, the smallest gain in three weeks, the shopping center group said....
Lowe's fell $2.04, or 6.7 percent, to $28.51 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Mooresville, North Carolina-based company said profit may decline as much as 9 percent this year from 2006. The shares have fallen 8.5 percent this year, compared with an 18 percent drop for larger Home Depot Inc.
Target, based in Minneapolis, forecast same-store sales to rise as little as 1.5 percent, less than half of what it had projected. Target fell $2.95, or 4.6 percent, to $61.35 in New York trading....
The Johnson Redbook Index, another measure of U.S. retail sales, rose 1.6 percent last week from a year earlier, its lowest gain this month.
The index measures same-store sales at general-merchandise retailers representing about 9,000 locations. The sales are considered an industry benchmark because they exclude results from new or closed locations.
The Standard & Poor's Retailing Index of 29 companies slipped 2.7 percent, the most in three weeks. The index has declined 5.9 percent this year. It gained 9.4 percent in 2006.
The National Retail Federation and TNS Retail Forward both forecast that this year's holiday sales will increase at the slowest pace in five years....
``Typically the holiday season has a pretty high correlation to back-to-school,'' said Steven Baumgarten, an analyst at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, with $77 billion in assets including shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ``If you look at the back-to-school sales, they weren't that great.''
Wal-Mart marked down 16,000 back-to-school items in July to lure shoppers after fewer customer visits. The world's largest retailer in August cut its full-year profit forecast to as much as $3.13 a share after sales of apparel and home goods faltered. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, fell 81 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $43.16 in New York trading.
Sears Holding Corp., the largest U.S. department-store chain...(had) declining sales at stores open at least a year, which have dropped in every quarter since the merger of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Kmart Holding Corp. in 2005...."