TeleCheck Services Inc., the world's largest check acceptance company, reported today that same-store retail sales in January were 3.0% lower than the preceding January. Today's report was based on a survey of more than 20,000 of the 150,000 stores that subscribe to the TeleCheck system. The fall off in sales was attributed, in part, to severe winter weather.

The January decline was a little less than the 3.8% decline reported by Telecheck over the holiday shopping season; but, January was still the fourth consecutive month in which year-over-year sales declined.

Consumer expenditures account for 2/3 of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, and purchases by check account for 37% of consumer retail sales. Obviously, consumers continue to be cautious about spending money.

Byline: Lafferty (MF Merlin)