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Monthly sales volumes from department, chain, discount, and apparel stores. Sales are reported by the individual retailers. Chain store sales are an indicator of retail sales and consumer spending trends. Why Investors Care

Highlights
Four a fourth straight month chain-store sales proved weak, pointing to soft non-auto retail sales next week and perhaps more trouble for the economic outlook.

The disappointment was led by Wal-Mart which posted a mild 2.4 percent rise in same-store sales for the month, no better than the rate of inflation.

Sears posted a 3.2 percent decline saying apparel sales were disappointing, a common complaint due to unusually warm weather in the month that hurt sales of seasonal clothes.

JC Penney, a major apparel retailer, saw sales rise only 2.0 percent. AnnTaylor, a women's apparel retailer, posted weak results and cut estimates for the rest of the year. Limited Brands, another women's apparel retailer, saw sales fall 5.0 percent.

Though hurricanes in the month may have also depressed sales, the results are clearly poor. But chain-store sales, given their piecemeal nature, rarely move the financial markets aside from shares of individual retailers. Yet together they squarely point to weak numbers for retail sales a week from Friday, results that will move the financial markets.