RETAILERS RECOVER IN MAY

An article in MarketWatch reports that the nation’s largest retailers mostly recovered in May after suffering through a rather harsh month in April. According to Thomson Financial, Wal-Mart got a small boost from higher gas prices with same-store sales rising 1.3% which includes fuel sales. Without them, same-store sales were up 1.1%, missing the 1.4% forecast at Thomson Financial.

Target sale-store sales rose 5.8%, slightly above the 5.9% estimate.

Costco same-store sales grew 7% in May, well above analysts estimates. Total sales in the four weeks ended June 3 rose 11% to $5.14 billion.