U.S. Chain-Store Sales +5%

RAPAPORT... U.S. chain-store sales for this past week rose 4.6 percent year on year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs. The weekly sales comparison for the seven days that ended on December 17 increased by 3.4 percent, which was the strongest improvement so far this Christmas season.

''After a shopping lull over the first two weeks of December, consumers were out in force this past week trying to complete their holiday shopping," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's vice president of research and chief economist.  "However, despite the latest week's pickup, consumers are still behind in their holiday-gift completion rate relative to last year, which means the final week before Christmas is likely to be very, very busy," added Niemira.
 
ICSC expects that comparable-store sales will increase 3.5 percent to 4 percent for the month of December.