Econoday Report: Redbook January 13, 2009

Redbook

Released on 1/13/2009 8:55:00 AM For wk1/10, 2009

	Prior	Actual
Store Sales Y/Y change	-1.3 %	-1.9 %

Highlights
Retail sales are weakening even further in January, the indications of this week's same-store sales reports from both ICSC-Goldman and now Redbook. Redbook's tally shows a 1.9 percent decline in the Jan. 10 week vs. the year-ago week. The report warns that markdowns are heavy, pointing to yet greater strains on retailer margins. The Commerce Department will post December retail sales tomorrow amid expectations of broad declines.

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