Econoday Report: Redbook September 15, 2009

Redbook

Released on 9/15/2009 8:55:00 AM For wk9/12, 2009

	Prior	Actual
Store Sales Y/Y change	-2.4 %	-1.9 %

Highlights
Strong demand for basics and discounted goods offset continued weak demand for discretionary items. Redbook's retail year-on-year tally shows sizable improvement in the Sept. 12 week, at minus 1.9 percent for the best reading since the spring. The report said the week's gain is ahead of its monthly model. Retail sales for August, released at 8:30 ET, showed gains across many components and together with the weekly ICSC-Goldman and Redbook reports point tentatively to the possibility that consumer spending is finally stabilizing.

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