Highlights
Cooler weather gave seasonal sales a boost in the Oct. 3 week, according to ICSC-Goldman's same-store sales tally that rose 0.3 percent vs. the prior week for a year-on-year rate of plus 1.0 percent, next only to a 1.6 percent rate in the Sept. 12 week as the best year-on-year rate since November. The report is nevertheless calling for a full-month September decline of 2.0 percent year-on-year though it does say the bias is to the strong side. A run of 40 chain stores will report their September sales on Thursday, setting up expectations for the ex-auto ex-gas category of next week's retail sales report from the Commerce Department.