WASHINGTON (AP) - Wall Street on Tuesday will get a glimpse of how well retail sales held up during the first full week of summer, and whether year-over-year growth continues to slow.
Two sets of weekly retail sales data will be released. The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS Index comes out at 7:45 a.m. EDT, while the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index comes out at 8:55 a.m. EDT. There are no consensus estimates available.
The ICSC-UBS Index, which tracks 53 stores, reported that same-store sales fell 0.7 percent for the week ended June 23, compared with the prior week. They climbed 1.7 percent from a year earlier, although year-over-year sales growth has been slowing every week since the end of May, according to ICSC-UBS data.
The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index, which monitors 9,000 retail units, said same-store sales edged up 1.4 percent for the week ended June 23, compared with the year-ago period.
Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key measure of retailer performance, because it measures growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.
Discount retailer Target Corp. said last week it expects June same-store sales growth to hit the low end of its 3 percent to 5 percent forecast, based on sales for the first three weeks in June.
Despite a tough housing market, home-merchandise retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. reported last Wednesday its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 4 percent, as same-store sales grew 1.6 percent for the quarter.
Last week, drugstore chain Walgreen Co. reported same-store sales rose 7.8 percent in the third quarter, while its non-pharmacy same-store sales climbed 5.6 percent. Rite Aid Corp., the nation's third-largest drugstore, also reported fiscal first-quarter same-store sales grew by 2.3 percent.
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