NEW YORK - The nation's retailers extended their winning streak to a fourth month during March, boosted by a flood of new fashions that gave even long-struggling department stores a lift.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Gap Inc., J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. were among the stores with better-than-expected sales. The few disappointments included Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kohl's Corp., whose results fell below Wall Street expectations.
"The month is the strongest of the year so far, and I suspect that it will be the strongest performance for the whole year as well," said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers.
In other economic news, the Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for jobless claims declined by a seasonally adjusted 14,000 to 328,000 for the week ending April 3. That marked the lowest level since Jan. 13, 2001 - the week before President Bush's inauguration.
Retailers face problems in the months ahead, among them rising gasoline prices and lingering job weakness, that could stall their momentum, Niemira said.
The International Council of Shopping Center-UBS sales tally was up 7.0 percent in March, topping Niemira's estimate of 6.5 percent. That compares with a 0.2 percent decline a year ago, when business was hurt by the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The tally is based on same-store sales, those from stores open at least a year. They are considered the best measure of a retailer's health.
Department stores and mall-based apparel stores reported that consumers responded enthusiastically to new fashions. Bright colors such as hot pink and lime green and new career lines from Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein helped draw shoppers to department stores.
Niemira added that warmer weather helped retailers earlier in the month, although sales decelerated when temperatures fell.
A number of retailers, including Target Corp., Penney and Federated Department Stores Inc., raised their first-quarter profit outlooks, noting that consumers were buying at full-price rather than waiting for markdowns.
March was the fourth month in a row that retailers had strong sales. After reporting same-store sales of 4.3 percent in December, so far in 2004, stores have done even better, averaging about 6.6 percent. Niemira said the January-March sales performance is the industry's best performance since the July-September 1999 period, when same-store sales averaged 6.8 percent.
On Wall Street, concerns about the deteriorating situation in Iraq pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower. The index lost 38.12 points to close at 10,442.03.
On the layoffs front, the jobless claims figures were better than economists had expected. They had called for a slight decline from the previous week to around 340,000.
The more stable four-week moving average of claims, which smoothes out weekly fluctuations, also went down last week by 3,250 to 336,750. That represented the lowest level since Nov. 25, 2000.
The latest snapshot of layoffs raised hopes that recent improvements seen in the labor market might be sustained. A turnaround in the jobs market is the one missing piece of the economic recovery puzzle, analysts say.
The employment situation showed signs of turning an important corner in March. The economy added 308,000 jobs last month - the most in four years. While that's definitely an improvement from payroll gains registered in previous months, economists want to see net job gains in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 a month on a consistent basis before they declare a recovery in the jobs market.
