Department Stores: Worse than Car Dealers

You know your sector's in a pretty pickle if auto dealerships are outperforming you. That's the situation that department stores find themselves in today.

Retail sales, on the whole, rose for the first time in three months in May, climbing by .5% and boosted by a rebound in auto dealerships and gas stations, the Commerce Department reported. Results were in-line with analysts' expectations.

This was the largest increase since January's 1.7% jump. Most of the gain, however, came from a 3.6% uptick at gas stations, due to rising prices at the pump. Excluding autos, retail sales also grew .5% during the month, better than the .2% gain economists had expected. Sales were also up at hardware, grocery chains and health stores. ...