Michigan Retail Index April 2009 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html April 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 March results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 27 (31) 58 (55) 15 (14) 32.8 (39.4) 119 (135) Inventory 17 (14) 41 (51) 42 (35) 36.8 (30.0) 117 (134) Prices 22 (29) 10 (16) 68 (55) 54.1 (56.7) 118 (135) Promotions 39 (36) 5 (10) 56 (54) 64.9 (62.9) 118 (135) Hiring 8 ( 8) 21 (24) 71 (68) 44.1 (42.6) 116 (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 March results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 39 (39) 34 (36) 27 (25) 52.2 (47.8) 119 (136) Inventory 21 (23) 34 (39) 45 (38) 43.3 (39.0) 116 (133) Prices 26 (29) 7 ( 8) 67 (63) 60.2 (59.0) 118 (133) Promotions 48 (45) 3 ( 8) 49 (47) 75.0 (65.9) 118 (135) Hiring 15 ( 7) 15 (19) 70 (74) 49.1 (41.8) 118 (133) April 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 27 (37) 55 (36) 18 (27) West 19 (56) 62 (28) 19 (16) Central 25 (38) 62 (31) 13 (31) East 63 (25) 37 (25) 0 (50) Southeast 24 (30) 60 (40) 16 (30)*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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