http://dailynews.netscape.com/mynsnews/story.tmpl?table=n&cat=50100&id=200012271034000214147

fair use act quotation: for educational and reserach purposes Late Xmas Rush Not Enough for Retailers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. chain store sales rose sharply in the final shopping week before Christmas, but not enough to salvage a disappointing holiday shopping season for retailers, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM) and UBS Warburg said on Wednesday in their Weekly Chain Stores Sales Snapshot.

Chain store sales rose 3.9 percent in the week ended Dec. 23, compared with a 0.6 percent fall in the prior week, the report said.

On a year-over-year basis, the index was up 4.4 percent, compared with a 1.7 percent gain a week earlier.

The BTM sales index also rose sharply, to 386.2 from 371.6.

"Despite the end-of-week strength in shopper traffic and sales, the full weekly performance was less impressive by retailer with industry sales mixed relative to store plans," BTM reported.

The last-minute surge in sales was likely not enough of a boost for many retailers to meet their sales targets for the month, BTM said.

Retailers told BTM that winter weather in the South, West and Northeast and tough comparisons for the final week compared with Y2K-related purchases a year ago would hold down sales performance in the month's final week.

BTM said it now expects industry-wide sales to increase 2.5 to 3 percent for December as a whole compared with a year ago.

The BTM/UBSW Weekly Chain Stores Sales Snapshot is compiled from a representative sample of 85 retailers from across the country whose sales approximate 60 percent of all retail sales in the United States. The BTM index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.

-- fair use act quotation: for educational and reserach purposes (perry@ofuzzy1.com), December 27, 2000