Michigan Retail Index December 2009 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html December Performance Retailers reporting increased, decreased or unchanged sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring compared to the same month a year ago (numbers in parentheses indicate November results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 40 (33) 44 (54) 16 (13) 47.8 (39.7) 136 (133) Inventory 16 (21) 52 (43) 32 (36) 31.6 (37.2) 136 (132) Prices 21 (27) 12 (14) 67 (59) 54.4 (56.9) 135 (131) Promotions 47 (43) 5 ( 8) 48 (49) 71.1 (64.1) 135 (132) Hiring 5 ( 5) 17 (21) 78 (74) 44.1 (42.8) 136 (132) Outlook for Next 3 Months Retailers expecting increased, decreased or unchanged sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring compared to the same period a year ago (numbers in parentheses indicate November results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 42 (36) 28 (38) 30 (26) 57.1 (56.7) 134 (130) Inventory 25 (20) 29 (38) 46 (42) 48.1 (52.5) 135 (128) Prices 33 (28) 9 (10) 58 (62) 61.9 (58.6) 135 (127) Promotions 39 (39) 5 ( 5) 56 (56) 67.4 (75.0) 135 (129) Hiring 8 ( 5) 14 (15) 78 (80) 47.0 (49.8) 134 (129) December Sales Performance & Outlook for Next 3 Months, by Region (the first number indicates sales performance for the month; the number in parentheses indicates outlook for the next three months.) % Increased % Decreased % No Change North 28 (39) 53 (36) 19 (25) West 50 (47) 37 (22) 13 (31) Central 45 (53) 33 (12) 22 (35) East 20 (30) 70 ( 0) 10 (70) Southeast 44 (40) 39 (37) 17 (23) Question of the Month For sales this past holiday season, what was the percentage increase or decrease from the previous season? > 5% gain < /= 5% gain 0% < /= 5% loss > 5% loss 26% 17% 17% 24% 15% For all of 2009, what was the percentage increase or decrease from the previous year? > 5% gain < /= 5% gain 0% < /= 5% loss > 5% loss 16% 10% 12% 43% 19%*Seasonally adjusted diffusion index. A diffusion index, which is the sum of the percent of respondents indicating increase and half the percent indicating no change, is calculated and then seasonally adjusted using the U.S. Census Bureau's X-11 Seasonal Adjustment procedure. Index values above 50 generally indicate an increase in activity, while values below 50 indicate a decrease.
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