Retail shares lower
Lackluster early readings on spring sales cause jitters for investors.
March 5, 2002: 2:10 p.m. ET
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Two lackluster sales reports helped drive retail shares lower Tuesday, fueling investor jitters that shoppers are not snapping up spring clothing and other items at the hoped-for pace.
Shares of discount leader Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and home improvement chain Home Depot Inc. were down about 2 percent, while Costco, Sears and a host of others traded lower Tuesday after weekly reports from the Bank of Tokyo-Mistubishi and Instinet Research indicated a sluggish sales pace in February.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said U.S. chain store sales increased 4.7 percent last week, a slower pace than the 5.1 percent jump reported for the same period a year ago. Sales declined 0.8 percent last week from the previous week, the largest decline since Dec. 1.
Meanwhile, the Redbook Retail Index, published by Instinet Research, rose 0.7 percent in the four weeks ended March 2 from the same period last month.
The reports come two days before most retailers report their February sales at stores open at least a year, a key industry gauge known as same-store sales.
Economists credit consumers, whose spending makes up two-thirds of the nation's economy, with helping to blunt the effects of a recession. However, Americans' overall bullishness means there is no pent-up spending on the horizon and retail sales may suffer.
"February is a testing month for spring, and the results have not been spectacular," said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Consulting Group. "There seems to be a sense of foreboding that while spring is likely to be a smidgen better than we have seen in past months, it is not going to be a barn-burner." 
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