U.S. chain store sales slowest October growth since 1995

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. chain store sales grew by 1.6 percent year-over-year in October, the slowest growth for the month since 1995, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc (ICSC).

The 1.6 percent increase in October was slightly slower than the 1.7 percent year-over-year growth recorded for September.

Unseasonably warm weather in the U.S. throughout October hurt clothing sales, as it did in September, and kept the overall industry performance down, the ICSC said.

"Over the last two months, retailers have struggled with the warm weather's negative impact on retail spending," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research. "However, for the November-December period, we are expecting a marked improvement from the very sluggish September-October performance," Niemira said.

"We expect a 2.5 percent year-over-year sales increase for November," he added.

ICSC Chain Store Sales Trends is a monthly report on the U.S. retail industry's sales performance based on an ICSC preliminary compilation of publicly-available sales for 44 chain stores during the month of October.

Founded in 1957, ICSC is the global trade association of the shopping center industry with more than 70,000 members in 92 countries.