Weekly sales rise 2.5%

New York City A report released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs said that chain-store sales for the week ended June 19 rose 2.5% from the year-earlier period.

On a week-over-week basis, sales edged down 0.5%.

"Customer traffic moderated from the same week of last year and with it weekly sales slipped," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist, adding consumers were more cautious in their spending despite the Father's Day sales catalyst.

Niemira said even though the weekly sales pace seemingly has slowed "a tad" in recent weeks, he still forecast sales for the month would rise 3% to 4% because of easy comparisons.