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Strategies & Market Trends : Can you beat 50% per month? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (12614)	12/8/2007 3:28:01 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 19257

U.S. Retailers May Struggle to Boost December Sales (Update1) By Heather Burke Enlarge Image/Details Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. retailers may struggle to boost sales this month as consumers grappling with lower home values and higher food and energy costs shun full-priced goods. Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, said yesterday that it needs sales to ``meaningfully improve'' in December to achieve fourth-quarter profit growth. J.C. Penney Co., the third-biggest department-store chain, expects sales at stores open at least 12 months to fall for the five weeks through Jan. 5. Retailers may cut prices further during what the National Retail Federation in Washington forecasts will be the slowest holiday shopping season in five years. Consumers contending with defaults on mortgages and higher costs for milk and gasoline may wait until closer to Christmas to spend, hoping for discounts of 50 percent or more on sweaters and electronics. ``I don't think there's going to be anything that's going to take the focus away from price,'' said Christian Andreach, who helps manage more than $15 billion at Manning & Napier Advisors Inc. in Fairport, New York. ``Everyone's pretty much aware of the negatives.'' The NRF projects November and December sales will rise 4 percent, the smallest gain since 2002. That year sales added 1.3 percent. The 30-member Standard & Poor's 500 Retailing Index is down 11 percent this year. Minneapolis-based Target declined 6 cents to $55.51 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. J.C. Penney, based in Plano, Texas, gained $3.08 to $47.92. Calendar Change Same-store sales at Nordstrom Inc. and Macy's Inc. benefited in November because an early Thanksgiving this year moved extra holiday shopping days from December. Cincinnati-based Macy's, the second-largest department store chain, said same-store sales may drop 4 percent to 7 percent in December because of the calendar shift. U.S. retail sales at stores open more than a year may climb 1.5 percent this month because ``what you gain in November, you lose for December,'' Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, said yesterday. He reaffirmed the group's forecast for a combined November-December gain of 2.5 percent, which would be the slowest growth since 2004. Shoppers spent 3.5 percent less per person over the Thanksgiving weekend than in 2006, the NRF reported. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is considered the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season and is one of the busiest days for retailers. Spending Less Twenty-three percent of shoppers say they are spending less on Christmas gifts this year, an all-time high, according to a poll conducted Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 by America's Research Group. Consumer confidence dropped in November to the lowest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to the New York-based Conference Board. The number of Americans who fell behind on their mortgage payments rose in the third quarter to a 20-year high as borrowers were unable to refinance or sell their homes, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported yesterday. President George W. Bush announced a freeze on some home-loan rates this week. November same-store sales at U.S. retailers climbed 3.5 percent, the ICSC said yesterday, beating its estimate of 2.5 percent. Sales, based on results from 46 chains, were helped by the calendar shift, said Niemira. Some retailers hope November sales trends continue into this month. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, and Costco Wholesale Corp. the biggest U.S. warehouse-club chain, reported November sales that topped analysts' estimates. Food and pharmacy led the increases at Wal-Mart, which this year offered more holiday discounts. ``It seems that the consumer was lured in by some of the discounts at Wal-Mart,'' said Andreach. ``They've certainly gotten their low-price strategy out in front of the consumer this year.'' Same-store sales are considered a key measure of a retailer's performance because they exclude locations that have recently opened or closed. To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Burke in New York at hburke2@bloomberg.net Last Updated: December 7, 2007 16:40 EST