Weekly sales slow to 0.4% gain

New York City A report issued Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs said that chain-store sales for the week ended Jan. 30 rose 0.4% from the year-earlier period.

The increase is the smallest in January.

On a week-over-week basis, sales were up 0.1%.

"The stronger early-month performance helped to lift the monthly sales performance in what is traditionally a very low volume month dominated by clearance activity," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist.

Niemira forecast January sales to rise about 1%, also slower than the 3.6% gain in December.