Highlights
Chain-store sales in December proved moderate, perhaps a positive surprise given the highly publicized soft results at Wal-Mart and late weakness in ICSC-UBS and Redbook results. A quick look at a small sample of 84 retailers that issued results this morning shows median same-store sales growth of 3.3%, in line with the general rate over the year and in fact in line with most holiday projections. Many retailers reported strong sales of gift cards, which should help lift January sales as well as the two-month December-to-January period.

Total sales are coming in a bit on the light side at about 6.5%, but income looks positive and in line with pre-season projections. Many retailers did note that markdowns were not excessive and that inventories are generally light, the latter a big plus going into spring restocking. The news should set up moderate to firm expectations for next week's retail sales reports and may give a lift to share prices of retailers through the afternoon. The results may also ease jitters a bit that high energy prices were dimming the 2006 outlook for consumer spending.

2006 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/5 2/2 3/2 4/6 5/4 6/1 7/6 8/3 8/31 10/5 11/2 11/30 Released For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov