J.C. Penney March same-store sales down 12.3 percent

CHICAGO (Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday its March sales at department stores open at least a year fell 12.3 percent as skittish U.S. consumers continue to cut back on discretionary spending.

The company also forecast a mid- to high-single digit decrease in April sales, reflecting a continuation of weakness it said it started to see at the end of February.

Sales declines were seen in most merchandise categories, said the department store operator, which has been hurt by the weak U.S. economy.

Analysts, on average, were expecting the company's same-store sales to fall 12.6 percent in March, according to Reuters Estimates, while the retailer had forecast a decline in the low-double-digit range.

The Plano, Texas-based company said total sales fell 10.3 percent to $1.54 billion in the five-week reporting period ended April 5.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Dave Zimmerman)