NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. chain store sales slowed sharply last week compared with a year earlier as mild weather and slack consumer demand kept cash registers quiet, industry reports showed Tuesday.

Consumers have been buying less at retail chains in recent months, instead putting their money into houses and autos, as they increasingly worry about job security, a possible invasion of Iraq, and corporate scandals.

Fears about losing jobs helped send closely watched consumer confidence down for the fourth consecutive month in September, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. Though the figure was better than most analysts had expected, it still stoked jitters about how much longer consumers can carry the economy.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge known as same-store sales, increased 2.7 percent for the week ended Sept. 21, compared with the same period a year ago, which is down from the 3.7 percent year-over-year increase reported the previous week, according to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg.

Sales actually declined 1.7 percent last week from the previous week.

Meanwhile, Instinet Research's Redbook Retail Sales index rose 0.6 percent for the first three weeks of September compared with the same period a year ago.

Sales growth was weaker than in the previous week when sales rose 2 percent, according to Redbook. Month-to-date sales were flat compared with the same period in August.

Both reports come a day after the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT: Research, Estimates), warned that its September same-store sales would come in at the low end of its 4-to-6 percent sales growth forecast.

The BTM report forecast overall September sales growth of 3 percent, which is weak even with the easy comparisons to a year ago, which was the period immediately following the September 11 attacks.

Most chains, including Wal-Mart, are scheduled to report monthly sales results Oct. 5.