Same Store Retail Sales Pick Up By A Tick

Same store sales were up 3.6 percent year-on-year in the October 28 week, picking up by a tick the brisker 3 percent plus pace maintained in the weekly readings since mid-August. Month-to-date sales versus the prior month were down 1.3 percent, the fourth negative week in a row, but the full month year-on-year sales gain edged up to a 3.5 percent rate, the strongest since September 30, though still 0.9 percentage points off the pace seen in the prior month, which was the strongest in more than two years. The week's data shows Redbook's sample of retailers gradually regaining the momentum lost early in the month and points to respectable ex-auto ex-gas retail sales for October.