Sales Fell

Swept up in an industry-wide malaise, Hechinger Co., the Landover-based home improvement chain, reported yesterday a seventh consecutive month of declining sales.October sales fell 13 percent to $170.3 million, compared with $195.3 million during the same period last year. Sales in stores open at least a year, a key indicator of performance because it factors out new stores, dropped 12 percent."The issues in the home center industry are pretty well known at this point," said Hechinger Vice President Richard S. Gross.

DETROIT -- U.S. auto sales fell in June, hurt by Ford Motor Co.'s 11 percent decline, but General Motors Corp.'s sales rose 4.3 percent as discounts and newer truck models helped the largest automaker gain market share from its closest rival. GM and Ford said they revived no-interest loans to clear out 2002 models before their replacements arrive, the companies said. Sales fell 3.6 percent at DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit and 0.6 percent at Toyota Motor Corp. Ford, trying to recover from losses last year and the first quarter of this year, was hurt in June as it declined to match discounts offered by GM and Chrysler.

Despite falling consumer confidence and gas prices that teetered around $4 a gallon, retailers surprised analysts by reporting yesterday better-than-expected same-store sales for May. Discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and TJX Cos. Inc. fared particularly well as price-conscious customers spent federal income-tax rebate checks on groceries, gasoline and off-price clothing. "The rebate checks were going to be a wild card this month, but it certainly looks like they kicked in," said Ken Perkins, president of the research firm Retail Metrics.

GM, Chrysler sales fell in MayGeneral Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. said yesterday that their U.S. vehicle sales slumped in May from a year ago, while buyers snapped up Japan's Lexus and Infiniti luxury models as trade sanctions loomed.Industry leader GM's total U.S. vehicle sales in May declined 5.4 percent, measured by sales per day. Chrysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker, said its sales fell 3.0 percent. Ford Motor Co. is expected to report results next week.Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the Lexus; Nissan Motor Co., which produces the Infiniti; and Mercedes-Benz all reported U.S. sales gains despite the strength of the Japanese and German currencies against the dollar.

The major automobile makers posted further sales declines in April on Friday, punctuating a brutal week for an industry that saw one of its largest companies plunge into bankruptcy and signs that a similar fate awaits its biggest U.S. player. Chrysler, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday and signed a deal to hand over its management to Fiat, reported Friday that its U.S. vehicle sales plunged 48 percent in April from a year ago. The Auburn Hills, Mich., company sold 76,682 cars, truck and SUVs during the period, a number depressed by a large reduction in fleet sales to rental car companies and government agencies as Chrysler attempts to focus on the consumer market.

Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. improved its sales results slightly again last month, but analysts said the figures were still very disappointing and didn't indicate a significant turn in the struggling retailer's fortunes.The poor results weren't unexpected. As in previous months, July sales were hurt by a supply drought earlier in the year that caused the amount of spring and summer merchandise in Merry-Go-Round's stores to be far less than normal.Sales will be watched much more closely for August and beyond, because Merry-Go-Round has said it has re-established supply lines and expects inventories to move closer to normal levels for the back-to-school and fall seasons.

Retail sales grew at an expected slow pace in February, as U.S. consumers continued tightening spending amid a weakening economy. Sales at the nation's biggest chain stores rose, on average, 2.8 percent for the month, when retailers typically clear out winter merchandise, a Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi index showed. The gain fell short of a much healthier increase of 6 percent in February 1999, before consumer confidence began to ebb because of higher fuel costs and a plunging stock market.

The nation's biggest retailers reported the weakest November sales growth in a decade yesterday, further dimming an already bleak outlook for the holiday season. Sales fell below expectations for many chain stores, many of which had offered deep discounts to lure shoppers. But a recessionary economy, rising unemployment and fear of layoffs kept consumer spending in check. Springlike weather hurt sales even more, as shoppers bypassed snow tires, heaters and heavily promoted coats and sweaters.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell yesterday as a retreat in Philip Morris Cos. and disappointing December sales at some of the nation's fastest-growing retailers offset a rebound in semiconductor shares.A two-day decline in household products and beverage shares, caused by concern that a weak Mexican peso will hurt profits, also drove the stock market lower.The Dow Jones industrial average, which seesawed in a 17-point range yesterday, closed down 6.73, at 3,850.92. Philip Morris and Du Pont Co. together accounted for almost seven points of the drop.

Sales slowed in November at many of the nation's biggest retailers as heavy, post-Thanksgiving shopping failed to make up for cautious spending by consumers earlier in the month. Sears, Roebuck and Co., Target Corp. and Federated Department Stores all posted sales decreases - as much as 10 percent in the case of Sears - compared with November 2001. Same-store sales fell an average 0.1 percent, according to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.'s index of 79 retailers. That average missed the bank's forecast of a 1 percent increase and marked the first November drop since 1970.