Econoday Report: Redbook April 14, 2009

Redbook

Released on 4/14/2009 8:55:00 AM For wk4/11, 2009

	Prior	Actual
Store Sales Y/Y change	0.4 %	0.9 %

Highlights
The Spring break and warmer weather gave a lift to retail sales in the April 11 week, according to Redbook which reports a very strong 0.9 percent year-on-year rise for the biggest gain since September. This report, along with ICSC-Goldman posted earlier this morning, point to better results for the April retail sales report in what will be a big contrast to the very disappointing results for March reported at 8:30 a.m.

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