Retail Enjoys A Good Holiday Season
There is some great news for retail! Top U.S. retail chains took a positive turn from January's sales from last year's decline, perhaps because many avoided huge clearance sales, and shoppers cashed in on the holiday gift cards.
Costco Wholesale Corp, and Limited Brands were among the number that came in ahead of Wall Street Expectations. Clothing retailers Hot Topic and Wet Seal posted drops in sales that were even more deppressing than were forecast.Twelve retailers were followed by Thomson Reuters, and five of them beat estimates, while six came in below forecast. An additional eighteen other store chains were due to report.
January is looked upon as the least important month of the holiday fourth quarter because it makes up the smallest portion of its sales. But the fact that retailers avoided the insane clearance sales that hurt January sales last year, and with customers redeeming gift cards that were received in December lends to the idea that some of these companies could raise their earnings forecasts.
Costco alleges that same store sales rose by eight percent in January which is better than the 7.8 percent increase that was expected. In addition the wholesale club increased 25 percent at its international divisions. Sales that were made at Limited Brands rose to 6 percent, topping the Wall Street predictions for a half of a percent increase. Retailers' observations about sales trends -- especially whether traffic weakened considerably at the end of January -- might be a signal to how consumers will spend this quarter.
Some researchers are concerned, believe that the successful yet unexpected holiday sales shot spending forward. That means that stores could have a difficult time getting shoppers in the first quarter, especially if cold weather trumps demand for spring merchandise. But all in all, good news. Really.
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