Retail spending unchanged in week

WASHINGTON, May 28 (UPI) -- Retail sales in the United States were unchanged on the week ending May 24, the International Council of Shopping Centers-USB reported Tuesday.

Shopping was up 1.5 percent from a year ago but "seasonally cool weather and record-high gasoline prices continued to weigh heavy on the consumers' desire to spend," the report said.

Encouraging to shoppers, Louisiana and Texas enacted state tax holidays for hurricane-preparedness items and federal tax rebates are beginning to show up in mailboxes, the report said.

Worries about the economy, however, have curtailed many consumers' willingness to spend.

High gas prices are "dragging down chain-store sales demand by nearly 1 percentage point currently," while spending has increased "by about a quarter of a percentage point" due to the arrival of tax rebates, ICSC said.