Are these "chief economist" for real or are they a joke. Michael Niemira said "After stripping out Wal-Mart Stores, sales would have grown 4.9%, better than the year-to-date trend of 4.6% growth." Stripping out Walmart Store Sales..WTF....Is this guy pathetic or what. How can you strip out sales of the biggest retailer in the world???? All of the sudden they show low same store sales and now they look at it as if they want to strip out the companies figures just to show that retail is still leading the way. There is no such thing as 4.9% growth in Same store sales for the month of October. Its 3% and its below the consensus. FOOLS!!! GAME OVER!!! Although October is generally considered a transition month as retailers clear out the last remnants of early fall and back-to-school products, it's also the time when retailers bring out the first round of holiday goods. Same-store sales grew 3%, according to Thomson Financial, or 4.9% excluding Wal-Mart. Analysts' average estimate stood at 3.4%. Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, said October sales grew 3%, matching the ICSC/UBS forecast. After stripping out Wal-Mart Stores, sales would have grown 4.9%, better than the year-to-date trend of 4.6% growth.
Just like core cpi vs regular cpi. Lets strip out everything we don't like!!! No matter if it is the mowst important part!!
Sometimes you have to overlook things like WM when you live in the land of perfect........otherwise...well.......it wouldn't be perfect.
Yep, must be the same economists who were saying last week that once we took housing out, GDP would've grown over the previous periods.
i was going to say the same thing! So its INFLATION minus energy and housing..the things that have inflated the MOST!!!! It is all just B.S. I would like this job much more if we could trust the economic and earnings numbers.