Econoday Report: Redbook February 2, 2010

2010 Economic Calendar

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Redbook

Released on 2/2/2010 8:55:00 AM For wk1/30, 2010

	Prior	Actual
Store Sales Y/Y change	1.0 %	0.8 %

Highlights
Redbook reports soft results for the final week of January and for January as a whole. The report pegs month-to-month same-store sales at minus 1.5 percent, below their minus 1.2 percent target in a result that points to weakness for the January-to-December comparison in the Commerce Department's ex-auto ex-gas category. Sales in the Jan. 30 week were up a soft 0.8 percent year-on-year for the lowest rate since October. The year-on-year rate for the full month of January is plus 1.0 percent, also the lowest rate since October. Commentary in the report is limited but does note that retailers are unrolling big HDTV promotions for the Super Bowl.

Definition
A weekly measure of sales at chain stores, discounters, and department stores. It is a less consistent indicator of retail sales than the weekly ICSC index. It is also calculated differently than other indicators. For instance, figures for the first week of the month are compared with the average for the entire previous month. When two weeks are available, then these are compared with the average for the previous month, and so on. It might be more useful to compare year-over-year figures since these are indeed compared to the comparable week a year ago. This index is correlated with the general merchandise portion of retail sales covering only about 10 percent of total retail sales. Why Investors Care

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