American retail-chains doing slightly better

Sales at U.S. retailers declined less than expected in March in a sign that shoppers may be regaining confidence to open their wallets after more than a year of recession.

 "The numbers are still soft, but given the deluge of negative news we have seen in the retail space over the last several months, it's got to be somewhat encouraging," said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics Inc. "It looks like there is a little bit of an uptick, some pent-up demand … for some discretionary spending." According to Thomson Reuters' revenue-weighted same-store sales index, overall sales fell 1.8 percent, double the expected decline, due largely to weaker-than-expected sales growth at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Excluding Wal-Mart, sales fell 5 percent, slightly better than the 5.2 percent drop that analysts expected. "We suspect that as this year progresses, it will get increasingly better," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist. "Especially toward the end of the year when you have very easy comparisons."