ICSC Goldman Retail Sales Show Decline for Week

In a report that the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs said not to read too much into, same store sales dropped by 0.8 percent in the week of February 27.  In a year to year comparison, this figure increased by 0.7 percent.  Highlighting the way that data can fluctuate in the month of February for retailers, the ICSC is still calling for two percent growth for the full month of February.  Another thing to keep in mind is that much of the Northeast was slammed by a big snowstorm last week, which obviously kept shoppers out of stores.

Still, even if the ICSC figures -- which measure weekly sales at major chain retailers -- do show that projected two percent increase, it still shows that the consumer isn't really opening up his wallet.  Spending in the early part of 2009, which came right on the heels of the near collapse of the financial system, was hardly robust.  And a gain of two percent off those low figures is not something to get excited about.

While one week's data shouldn't be used to extrapolate too far, when combined with the drop in consumer confidence, housing sales, and increase in jobless claims we saw last week, it's clear that of anemic retail sales is still in place.

That should get investors to think about whether they should take profits on retailers who have had big run ups.  Most investors who put their money into the stocks of retailers in the past year or two have big gains.  It may be time to take those gains or at the very least, use options to protect against losses.

We will get more economic data today, with auto sales being reported.  It will be interesting to see whether Toyota's competitors can take advantage of its problems to gain market share.