date:May 27, 2014
US retailers first-quarter earnings are trailing analysts estimates by the widest margin in 13 years after bad weather and weak spending by lower-income consumers intensified competition.
Chains are missing projections by an average of 3.1%, with 87 retailers, or 70% of those tracked, having reported, researcher Retail Metrics Inc. said in a statement today. Thats the worst performance relative to estimates since the fourth quarter of 2000, when they missed by 3.3%. Over the long term, chains