Econoday Economic Report: Redbook January 2, 2013

2013 Economic Calendar

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Redbook

Released On 1/2/2013 8:55:00 AM For wk12/29, 2012

	Prior	Actual
Store Sales Y/Y change	2.4 %	2.9 %

Highlights
Retailers closed out December slightly below plan, according to Redbook whose same-store sales index shows a 2.9 percent year-on-year rate for the December 29 week. The report says the week's sales were more promotional than retailers planned which points to weakness for profit margins. Chain stores will post their individual results on Thursday.

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