In his State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush may have been optimistic regarding an economic turnaround this year, but U.S. retailers aren’t. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, most retailers expect sales to flag during the next six months.
Among the retailers polled, 44% say they expect sales to be “weaker,” while 19% expect sales to be “much weaker.” The remainder expect sales to remain the same. And no respondents believe sales will be stronger.