Highlights
Chain stores reported mostly strong results in November that point to strength for the non-auto, non-gas category of next Thursday's retail trade report from the Commerce Department. Wal-Mart, which makes up about 9 percent of the non-auto, non-gas category and whose results over the past several holidays have closely matched total results, showed a solid 5.4 percent total store gain and a solid 1.4 percent same-store gain, up nicely from October. Cold weather gave an important boost to retailers who had suffered through two very warm prior months, but some retailers, especially discounters, noted that lower income consumers are concentrating on staples and not on discretionary goods. Views were mixed on Black Friday with some pointing to heavy traffic and good results but others complaining about light traffic and soft results. Note that press reports on Black Friday appear to have been overly optimistic.

2007 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/4 2/8 3/8 4/12 5/10 6/7 7/12 8/9 9/6 10/11 11/8 12/6 Released For: Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov