Americans shopped tepidly during May, giving retailers modest relief from a dismal showing in April but still raising questions about how strong consumer spending will be in the months ahead, REPORTED AP. As the nation's merchants reported results Thursday, the early winners included Limited Brands Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. Among the disappointments were Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and teen retailers Bebe Stores Inc. and Wet Seal Inc. «The general trend is clearly better than April but in line with expectations for what we saw in the spring,» said Richard Jaffe, a retail analyst at Stiffel Nicolaus.``Are shoppers being selective? As always.» According to Thomson Financial's results so far, 13 retailers missed expectations, while seven beat projections. Two retailers met expectations. The mixed results follow a rare drop in same-store sales in April _ the industry's worst performance on record _ raising concerns that higher gas prices and a weaker housing market are eating away at consumer spending. Same-store sales are sales at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health. For now, however, the cutbacks in spending appear to be contained as the overall job market remains healthy. Wal-Mart had a 1.1 percent same-store sales gain, below the 1.4 percent predicted by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Costco had a same-store sales increase of 7 percent. Analysts expected a 5.6 percent increase. Limited had a 3 percent gain in same-store sales, much better than the 1.6 percent decline that analysts expected. Bebe had a 3.0 percent drop in same-store sales, worse than the 2.8 percent analysts had projected. Wet Seal had a 1.9 percent decline in same-store sales; analysts had expected a gain of 3.2 percent.
