TABLE-US chain store sales rose 1.4 pct last wk-Redbook

Muddling through at modestly positive numbers.

(Reuters) Redbook Research on Tuesday released the following seasonally adjusted weekly data on U.S. chain store sales:

Year-over-year: Week (w/e 5/3/08 vs year ago)         1.4 pct
Year-over-year:Month (April 2008 vs April 2007)       1.6 pct
Month-over-month: (April 2008 vs March 2008)         -1.6 pct

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index is a sales-weighted index of year-over-year same-store sales growth in a sample of large U.S. general merchandise retailers representing about 9,000 stores.

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• ABC Consumer Confidence (Released 17:00 EST)

ABC Consumer Confidence (May 4)

This is a one man vote survey, and a lot of low income people are getting hurt by this shift to an export economy.

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TABLE-US chain store sales fell 0.2 pct last week-ICSC

Tue May 6, 2008 7:45am EDT

NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) – The International Council ofShopping Centers and UBS Securities on Tuesday released the following seasonally adjusted weekly data on U.S. chain store retail sales.

WEEK ENDING	INDEX 1977=100	YEAR/YEAR CHANGE (%)	WEEKLY CHANGE (%)
May 3	495.4	2.3	-0.2
April 26	496.3	1.9	0.9
April 19	491.8	1.4	-0.7
April 12	495.3	1.8	0.9

The ICSC-UBS weekly U.S. retail chain store sales index is ajoint publication between ICSC and UBS Securities LLC. It measures nominal same-store sales, excluding restaurant and vehicle demand, and represents about 75 retail chain stores.

Muddling through like most export economies.

Year over year looks okay.