Chain Store Sales Rise in Jan 12 Week

NEW YORK – U.S. chain store sales edged higher in the latest week as consumers shopped cautiously amid lingering economic uncertainty, a report on Tuesday showed.

U.S. chain store sales rose 0.6 percent during the week ended Jan. 12, reversing a 0.6 percent drop one week earlier, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg reported in their Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot.

Compared with the same week last year the index grew 2.3 percent, above the prior week's 1.4 percent year-over-year gain.

The BTM/UBSW Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is compiled from seven major discount, department and chain stores across the country that report their weekly results.

Those stores include J.C. Penney, Sears, Target, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Federated Department Stores Inc. and May Department Stores Co. The BTM/UBSW index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.