Chain Store Sales Post Healthy Gains
NEW YORK (Reuters) March 23- Sales at U.S. chain stores on a year-over-year basis remained healthy, suggesting rising gas prices and weakened confidence in the economy have not bothered consumers when it comes to shopping, a weekly report said on Tuesday.
Sales rose 0.2 percent in the week ended March 20 compared with a 0.5 percent rise in the previous week, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in a joint report. Sales for the week grew 7.1 percent compared with the same week a year ago, up slightly from the 7.0 percent growth pace of the preceding week.
"With March sales continuing to be on-to-above plan, there is no evidence, so far, that consumers are altering their spending patterns in the face of weaker consumer confidence, rising gasoline prices and a weakening stock market," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research.
ICSC still anticipates that comparable store sales in March will grow by about 6.5 percent on a year-over-year basis.
The ICSC-UBS Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is compiled from a group of major discount, department and chain stores across the country that report their weekly results. The index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.
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