...managing director for retail consulting firm Kurt Salmon, said after reviewing retailers' September reports.The S&P Retail Index rose 1.3 percent Thursday, outpacing the broader S&P 500 Index's 1 percent rise. BACK-TO-SCHOOL shopping...

...to $139.31, buoyed by SpendingPulse numbers that showed online sales rose 15.5 percent. The Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index edged up less than 1 percent. After-Christmas traffic also appeared to be relatively robust, though it wasn't...

...layoffs and other disquieting economic news prompted many Americans to cut holiday spending plans, the American Express retail index reports. At survey of 804 heads of households shows consumers planned to spend an average of $1,564, about 7 percent...

...percent of those dressing up will be Draculas, Frankensteins, werewolves and mummies, according to the American Express Retail Index on Halloween shopping, and another 16 percent will be witches. The survey also found that 27 percent will create their...

...Polo-Ralph Lauren. They are the top five brands for back-to-school shopping, according to the 2000 American Express Retail Index. Girls chose Gap as their favorite, while boys picked Nike. Teen-agers' preference for athletic-sporty styles...

...including Sears and Neiman Marcus -- that reported better-than-expected October results. The Merrill Lynch retail index, the investment firm's barometer of sales performance at department stores and discount chains, rose 3.8 percent...

...another stellar month, while sales were also strong at Dayton Hudson's Target discount stores. The Merrill Lynch retail index, the investment firm's barometer of sales performance at department stores and discount chains, was up 2.3 percent...

...percent of Americans plan to shop or browse at stores, malls or on the Internet today, according to an American Express Retail Index survey. With Thanksgiving over, there are only 26 days left for buyers to get all their presents before Christmas...

...E-COMMERCE OK Overall online consumer spending in September was only slightly down on the August total, the Forrester Online Retail Index reports. Sales for September totaled $3.97 billion, down from $4 billion in August. The number of households...

...WATCH Overall online consumer spending in September was only slightly down on the August total, the Forrester Online Retail Index reports. Sales for September totaled $3.97 billion, down from $4 billion in August. The number of households...