Shoppers Step Back

Updated from 10:11 a.m. EST

The majority of retailers joined Wal-Mart (WMT) on Thursday in disappointing Wall Street with October sales results that suggest consumers are finally ratcheting back their spending.

Just as the industry prepares for a crucial holiday selling season, Thomson Financial said 57% of the major retail chains reported sales for the month that missed analysts' expectations.

Shares of Wal-Mart, Target (TGT) and Costco (COST) all fell around 2% after each posted numbers that were deemed not up to snuff.

Wal-Mart said it expects to post flat U.S. same-store sales this month -- a weak showing for the discount giant that follows October's scant 0.5% gain. The world's biggest retailer blamed the effect of last year's restocking efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Retail Metrics, a research firm, reported that 61% of the retailers comprising its monthly same-store sales index had light numbers for October.

Excluding strong results from pharmacy chains like Walgreen (WAG) and CVS (CVS), along with weak results from Wal-Mart, the firm said its index posted a 3.3% increase for the month. Analysts were expecting a 3.7% gain.

Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, called the results "very disappointing." He says they create uncertainty for retailers as to whether a widely predicted, sustained slowdown in consumer spending is at hand or shoppers just took some downtime during the month in preparation for the holidays.