Retail Sales Expected to Rise 4.7% in Quarter

Retail sales are expected to rise 4.7% in the first quarter, less than the year-earlier period, amid a slowdown in the U.S. economy caused partly by the Asian economic crisis, the National Retail Federation said. Sales of apparel, home furnishings and furniture and sales at specialty stores rose 5.3% in the first quarter of 1997, it said. Asia’s financial turmoil won’t “derail the expansion of the American economy, but merely slow it,” federation chief economist Rosalind Wells said in a statement. The organization’s forecast follows a late surge in retail sales during 1997’s holiday season. The spurt helped annual retail sales exceed analysts’ expectations for last year, the federation said. In December, last-minute shoppers and post-holiday promotions capped a 5% sales gain in same-store sales for the Christmas shopping season. Same-store sales beat expectations of 3.75% to 4%, according to a Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi/Schroder Wertheim survey of about 85 retailers. Meanwhile, executives of Liz Claiborne Inc., Office Depot Inc. and Toys R Us Inc. told the National Retail Federation’s annual convention that the retailers all have plans to expand overseas, with Asia the focus despite the economic turmoil sweeping the region.