Ahead of the Bell: Retail Sales

Wall Street on Tuesday will see if U.S. shoppers crippled by high energy prices earlier this month continued to spend mostly on necessities like food and household items.

The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS Index and the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index release retail data for the second week of July at 7:45 a.m. and 8:55 a.m. EDT, respectively. There are no consensus estimates available.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index, which monitors 9,000 retail units, showed same-store sales edged up 2.7 percent for the week ended July 12, compared with the year-ago period. The ICSC-UBS Index, which tracks 53 stores, reported same-store sales rose 2.2 percent during the same period.

Same-store sales, or sales open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

For the week ended July 12, U.S. shoppers spent more of their extra dollars at grocery and drug stores, and discounters like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., ICSC Chief Economist Michael Niemira wrote in a note to clients. But sales at electronics, jewelry and furniture stores were much softer, he added.

Sales were driven largely by heavy discounts, which vary on a week-to-week basis based on inventory, said Catlin Levis, a Redbook analyst. Some of the nation's retailers also noticed some "moderate interest" in children's wear, evidence of early back-to-school shopping, she added.