G.O.O.D

Source: Reuters

Retailers’ sales fell as much as 4 percent during the holiday season, as the weak economy and bad weather created one of the worst holiday shopping climates in modern times, according to data released on Thursday by SpendingPulse.

The figures, from the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, show the 2008 holiday shopping season was the weakest in decades, as U.S. consumers cut spending as they confront a yearlong recession, mounting job losses and tighter credit.

“It’s probably one of the most challenging holiday seasons we’ve ever had in modern times,” said Michael McNamara, vice president of Research and Analysis at MasterCard Advisors.

“We had a very difficult economic environment. Weather patterns were not favorable toward the end of season, and that resulted in one of the most challenging economic seasons we’ve seen in decades.”

The figures exclude auto and gas sales but include grocery, restaurant and specialty food sales. Although SpendingPulse did not exempt the food prices, McNamara said the decline would have been steeper without them.

“There’s a lot of food that provide a buffer for the total retail sales numbers,” he said.

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Technorati Tags: Retail sales

That’s right, cut up those credit cards and turn them into something useful, like guitar picks. If you don’t have the cash then you cannot afford it, plain and simple.

Source: washingtonpost.com

Retailers posted the worst November sales in more than 30 years yesterday, as holiday shopping not only failed to lift the economy but showed that the financial crisis is further distressing everyday consumers.

About 30 major companies — including Macy’s, Abercrombie & Fitch and Target — posted sales declines at established stores. Overall, retail sales in November fell 2.7 percent compared with the same month last year, marking the second consecutive negative month, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group.

And American consumers, whose spending accounts for the bulk of the economy and who have powered the nation out of previous recessions, are turning away from their most potent tool: credit cards. The recent tightening of consumer credit has shoppers leaving their plastic at home — and sending retailers into a tailspin.

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Source: FT.com

The dire mood among US consumers was highlighted on Friday when figures showed that retail sales fell by 2.8 per cent in October – the steepest monthly drop since the commerce department began measuring the data in 1992.

The fall in retail sales was more rapid than the 2 per cent decline economists were forecasting.

“Gas prices are the only factor working in support of the consumer, but that is no match for falling employment, incomes, wealth and credit availability,” said Alan Ruskin of RBS in Greenwich Connecticut.

The data raised concerns that consumption, which accounts for about two-thirds of US gross domestic product, could shrink at a faster pace in the current quarter than the 3.1 per cent decline in the third quarter.

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Source: Bloomberg.com

The eroding U.S. economy drove retail sales into their longest slump in at least 16 years, even before this month’s market collapse signaled a deepening recession.

Consumer purchases fell 1.2 percent in September, extending the decline to three straight months, the first time that’s happened since comparable records began in 1992, Commerce Department figures showed today. In another sign of weakening demand, prices paid to U.S. producers fell last month on lower fuel costs.

Sales are slowing just as merchants prepare for the holiday selling season, on which they depend for the largest share of their revenue. San Francisco Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen said yesterday the U.S. may already be in a recession, and stocks dropped amid concern that the government’s plans to inject capital into banks won’t halt the economy’s decline.

“I don’t think things can get much worse,” said Brian Bethune, chief financial economist at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “September was a terrible month in terms of the overall situation, in both sales and production. The fourth quarter is guaranteed to be a terrible quarter.”

An early regional gauge of manufacturing for this month showed production weakening in New York state as the freeze in global credit markets prompted businesses to pull back. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index sank to the lowest level since it was first compiled in 2001.

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Retail Sales

This is no great surprise, but I’m posting it anyway.

Source: FT.com

Wall Street stocks were set for their fourth consecutive decline on Thursday as oil prices ticked higher, while investors digested negative earnings and sales figures and anticipated some weak employment data.

Shortly before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were 6.50 points lower than the fair value at 1268.70. Nasdaq futures were down 12.25 points at 1822.00 and Dow futures were down 61.00 points at 11480.00

Retailers will be in focus after a slew of sales figures for August, the middle of the crucial back-to-school period. Nordstrom, Wet Seal, Stein Mart and Bon-Ton Stores all reported larger-than-forecast declines.

Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, said: “Back-to-school selling was sluggish the first 3 weeks of August and picked up some toward the end of the month as consumers are shopping closer to need.”

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