Retailers Report Robust April Sales

NEW YORK (AP) – Consumers seemingly unfazed by rising gasoline prices spent enthusiastically during April, giving retailers strong sales for the month. Warmer weather, a late Easter and hot fashion trends helped entice shoppers, but merchants remained wary about the possibility that expensive gas and higher interest rates could still curb consumers’ appetites.As major retailers began reporting their sales figures Thursday, many including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp., Nordstrom Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. and Limited Brands Inc. had better-than-expected results. Even Gap Inc., which has for months disappointed Wall Street, posted a sales decline smaller than analysts expected.“So far, so good,” said Jharonne Martis, an analyst at Thomson Financial. “Even though there are some worries, consumers are out there spending.”Based on 48 retailers that have reported results so far, 63 percent beat estimates, 2 percent met, and the 35 percent missed, Martis said. A positive sign was the robust results from teen retailers, indicating that teens have a lot of discretionary spending despite high gasoline prices, she said.A big factor boosting sales last month was a late Easter, which fell on April 16 and was three weeks later than last year. Because of the calendar shift, retailers and analysts look at the combined spring selling period of March and April, which is turning out to be more robust than a year ago, Martis said.Despite the upbeat reports, retailers, particularly those that cater to low-income consumers, remain anxious. Gas now hovers around $3 per gallon, and is expected to stay high during the heavy summer driving season.Merchants are wondering when the pressure from higher interest rates, which makes financing debt more expensive, as well as higher gas prices will force shoppers to finally cut back. A cooling housing market has also slowed the trend of people taking spendable cash out of their appreciated homes through refinancing.The good news is that consumers are enjoying solid gains in the job market, which has offset the pain at the gasoline pump, analysts said.The Labor Department reported Thursday that new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week by 5,000 to 322,000. Even with the rise, the level of claims still pointed to a good job-market climate. Seasonable adjustment difficulties related to spring recesses may have distorted last week’s number, a department analyst said.Meanwhile, another government report showed that a measure of employers’ wage costs rose at a solid rate of 2.5 percent in the first quarter.Wal-Mart reported a 6.8 percent gain in sales at stores opened at least a year, known as same-store sales. That was better than the 5.7 percent estimate from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Same-store sales are the industry standard for measuring a retailer’s performance.“Rising fuel costs were overshadowed by the customers’ response to merchandise in apparel for the entire family and consumables,” Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.”April was a strong month for toys, from traditional items like dolls, balls, and outdoor toys to electronics.” He noted that the discounter has seen customers buying more toys, video games, music and movies, in addition to candy.Costco Wholesale Corp. had a 7 percent gain in same-store sales, beating the 5.5 estimate from analysts.Nordstrom had a 7.3 percent increase in same-store sales, exceeding the 4.8 percent estimate.J.C. Penney Co. Inc. had a 2.6 percent gain in same-store sales in its department store business, a bit below the 2.7 percent estimate from analysts.Limited had a 9 percent increase in same-store sales, better than the 5.2 percent gain Wall Street expected.Gap,which has been struggling with the coming up with the right fashion assortments, posted a 3 percent decline in same-store sales. That was less than the 4.7 percent drop Wall Street expected.Business at teen retailers rebounded in April after posting lukewarm results earlier this year.Abercrombie & Fitch reported a 17 percent gain in same-store sales, well exceeding the 7.9 percent estimate.Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. had a 14 percent gain in same-store sales, exceeding the 5.2 percent estimate from analysts.

Retailers Report Robust April Sales

Retailers Report Robust April Sales

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