Same Store Retail Sales Firm Up

Same-store sales firmed but not significantly, up 5 tenths to a still soft year-on-year plus 1.2 percent in the February 20 week. The report said cold weather helped boost sales of seasonal apparel as did last-minute shopping for Valentine's Day. Still, February sales are trailing January sales in this data which are pointing to weakness for core sales in the government's retail sales report.