Highlights
Same-store sales edged 1 tenth higher in the January 28 week according to ICSC-Goldman's same-store sales index where the year-on-year rate jumped 1.1 percentage points to plus 3.9 percent for the best reading of January. The report says January sales got a lift from demand for cold weather goods, demand that was pent up during the unseasonable warmth of December. Still, for January as a whole the report sees no better than a below trend year-on-year gain of 2 to 3 percent which points to weakness for the ex-auto ex-gas reading of the government's monthly retail sales report. Redbook, whose latest report will be posted later this morning at 8:55 a.m. ET, has also been reporting weakness this month.