Stores see January sales fall; Wal-Mart posts gain

NEW YORK -- Shoppers grappling with rising layoffs and shrinking retirement accounts dug deep into survival mode last month, resulting in sharp January sales declines for many retailers and raising more concerns about the financial health of the industry.

"Sales are coming in extremely soft, and we see more of the same for at least three to six months," said Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics. "Shoppers continue to be under pressure. They are fatigued and tapped out. They are feeling pressure from all fronts. And there's absolutely no incentive to shop."

A sales tally by Thomson Reuters found that 12 retailers it tracks beat expectations, while 11 missed projections. The tally is based on same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year, which are a key indicator of retailer's health.

January is the least important month of a retailer's sales calendar, but the figures only confirmed the deterioration of consumer spending. The retail industry has posted sales declines since October, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs index, and many analysts believe that will continue through the first half of the year.

Shoppers have worries from slumping home prices to tight credit and shrinking retirement accounts. But the biggest concern is job security and income — and that may only be reinforced by data Thursday showing that new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to their highest level in more than 26 years. The unemployment rate — now at 7.2% — is expected to jump to 7.5%, a 17-year peak, in January when the government releases new figures Friday.