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Consumers are finally spending more, with September posting the first gain in more than a year. The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) found that retail sales inched 0.1% higher last month. It doesn't seem like much, but a gain when you anticipate a fall is good news magnified. But, it came at the expense of great deals and other tools to entice somewhat hesitant customers into stores.

Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) and Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) reported sales increases in September for stores open more than a year. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP), Macy's (NYSE: M) and Target (NYSE: TGT) posted declines, but they were better than expected. Delayed school openings thanks to a late Labor Day helped push to September sales that might have occurred in August otherwise.

Of course, all eyes are on the coming holiday season. The National Retail Federation forecasts U.S. consumer spending of $437.6 billion - up only slightly from $433.7 billion four years ago. So, we still have a lot of ground to make up before we can celebrate a recovery. As long as the situation is staying steady, though, we'll at least have a solid starting point.

Consumers' wallets peeking open originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>consumer spendingConsumerSpendinggoldman sachsgoldman sachs group gsGoldmanSachsGoldmanSachsGroupGsgsinternational council of shopping centersInternationalCouncilOfShoppingCentersjc penneyjc penneysJcPenneyJcPenneyskohlslabor daylabor day weekendLaborDayLaborDayWeekendlimited brandsLimitedBrandsmacysnational retail federationNationalRetailFederationretailretail salesretail sectorretail stocksretail storeretail storesretailersRetailSalesRetailSectorRetailStocksRetailStoreRetailStorestargettarget corp.target storesTargetCorp.TargetStoresFri, 09 Oct 2009 16:20:00 EST<![CDATA[Retailers steeling themselves for weak December sales numbers]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/09/retailers-steeling-themselves-for-weak-december-sales-numbers/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/09/retailers-steeling-themselves-for-weak-december-sales-numbers/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/09/retailers-steeling-themselves-for-weak-december-sales-numbers/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

shoppersDecember is a critical month for retailers - the holiday season is the busiest shopping time, and a large chunk of bottom-line profits is booked in the final month of the calendar year. In 2006, December sales accounted for about 15% of all sales for the retailing sector. But December 2007, as many were predicting, may be one of the worst Decembers this decade.

Tomorrow, same-store sales for this critical month will hit the Street and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is expecting an overall gain of 1% among stores open at least a year. This is below the ICSC's earlier estimate of 1.5% and compares to a year-ago jump of 3.3%. If this estimate is on the nose, it will be the sector's worst December since 2002.

There are many reasons that the holiday-shopping season was a slow one: rising food and fuel costs, the credit market breakdown, continued housing woes. And because of all these reasons, many retailers were forced to offer sale prices and additional incentives to lure cautious customers into the stores. These discounts obviously pressured the bottom line.

Continue reading Retailers steeling themselves for weak December sales numbers

Retailers steeling themselves for weak December sales numbers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BBBYChristmas shoppingChristmasShoppingDecemberholiday shoppingHolidayShoppingInternational Council of Shopping CentersInternationalCouncilOfShoppingCentersinthenewsretail salesRetailSalesRTHTGTTLBWMTWed, 09 Jan 2008 13:22:00 EST