Retailers Ring Up Mixed Sales Reports for October

Have you been priming the pump? October same-store sales numbers were released today for a number of retailers -- and the results were mixed.

Big discounters

Costco

(COST) - Get Report

and

Wal-Mart

(WMT) - Get Report

both reported that sales increased 5%.

Target Discount Stores, a unit of

Target

(TGT) - Get Report

, said its sales were up 4.1%

Department stores gave mixed reports, with

Neiman Marcus

(NMG.A)

,

Federated Department Stores

(FD)

and

May

(MAY)

reporting increases, while

J.C. Penney

(JCP) - Get Report

and

Dillard's

(DDS) - Get Report

said sales were down. Penny also said it expects its third-quarter earnings loss to at least double.

Also, clothes retailers

AnnTaylor

(ANN)

and

Abercrombie & Fitch

(ANF) - Get Report

reported declines, but

Talbots

(TLB)

,

Gymboree

(GYMB)

and

Limited

(LTD)

all saw their sales increase.