Cold weather lifts retailers' sales

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Frigid winter winds blew life into U.S. retailers' January sales, as consumers snapped up cold weather clothes left on the shelves from the holiday season.

Redemption of gift cards also helped spur sales that topped the expectations of analysts across a broad spectrum of retailers, including department stores, discounters and teen clothing sellers.

"Shoppers were out in force as a result of gift cards, the let-up in gas prices and favorable weather," said Frank Badillo, senior economist at Retail Forward.

Still, retail stocks were mixed following the sales reports and the Standard & Poor's Retail Index .RLX was up 0.15 percent after reaching a life-time high on Wednesday.

Fifty-nine percent of retailers beat forecasts, while 39 percent missed expectations, according to Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics.

In aggregate, sales at stores open at least a year rose 3.9 percent, compared with expectations of 3.3 percent, the biggest positive surprise since last September.

Arctic weather hit much of the United States in January, with parts of the country seeing record or near-record cold, according to weather-tracking firm Planalytics.

That helped spur sales of winter clothing that had languished on store shelves during what Planalytics said was the warmest December in at least 10 years.

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