Retail Sector Reports Weak Sales As Consumer Spending Drops

New York, NY (AHN) - Retailers in the U.S. reported weak sales for the month of March due to sluggish consumer spending.

Consumer confidence was reported to have declined to a 16-year low in March. And the rising crude oil prices, pushed the regular gasoline rate to a $3.34 a gallon on an average during this week.

Shares of the world's top retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, increased by 1.2 percent during pre-open trade following a report that it estimates higher first-quarter earnings by 0.7 percent as the same-store sales gained, excluding gasoline sales.

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a rise by 7 percent in its same-store sales, compared to the projected increased of 5.9 percent by the analysts.

However, Wal Mart's Sam's Club unit reported a fall by 0.7 percent due to early Easter closure losses.

While, Target Corp. projected its sales to more-than-expected decline by 4.4 percent and Kohl's Corp. reported a possible decline of as much as 15.5 percent in same-store sales due to weak consumer spending.

"We had a perfect storm of factors that led to the weak sales last month," Ken Perkins, president of sales tracking firm Retail Metrics, CNN Money news report.

"Gas prices are at an all-time high, food prices are going up, the housing market is deteriorating, the credit market is tighter and we've had three straight months of job losses," Perkins said.