Many U.S. retailers posted smaller-than-expected sales declines for March in a sign that shoppers may be regaining confidence to open their wallets after more than a year of recession, Reuters reported. Of the U.S. retailers that reported March sales at stores open at least a year, more than half topped Wall Street estimates, and a handful even raised their quarterly earnings outlooks on Thursday. According to Thomson Reuters' revenue-weighted same-store sales index, overall sales fell 1.8 percent, double the expected decline, due largely to weaker-than-expected sales growth at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Excluding Wal-Mart, sales fell 5 percent, slightly better than the 5.2 percent drop that analysts expected. The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) said it expected overall U.S. same-store sales to rise 1 to 2 percent in April and be flat to up 1 percent in May. A notable exception was Wal-Mart, which reported a lower-than-expected 1.4 percent rise in March U.S. same-store sales, as a later Easter this year hurt sales at its namesake discount stores. At Wal-Mart's Sam's Club warehouse stores, discretionary categories such as jewelry, mattresses and furniture remained weak. But Wal-Mart, whose shares fell as much as 5.6 percent, said it expected earnings to be at the high end of its forecast for the fiscal first quarter, which ends April 30.
