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i I F E D E R A L R E S E R V E B O A R D March 7, 1932 r&s rtp-87 for release in evening papers Thursday, March 10 DEPARTMENT STORE SALES IN FEBRUARY 1932 Preliminary report Preliminary figures on the value of department store sales show a decrease from January to February of about the estimated seasonal amount. The Federal Reserve Board's index, which makes allowance both for number of business days and for usual seasonal changes, was 79 in February on the basis of the 1923-1925 average as 100, compared with 79 in January and 81 in December. In comparison with a year ago the value of sales for February, according to the preliminary figures, was 16 per cent smaller, and when allowance is made for the fact that there was one more trading day in February this year than last, the decrease from last year is about 19 per cent. PERCENTAGE INCREASE OR DECREASE FROM A TEAR AGO February* Total Federal reserve district: Boston New York Philadelphia Cleveland Richmond Atlanta Chicago St. Louis Minneapolis Kansas City Dallas San Francisco 16 s January 1 to February 29* - 19 21 18 Number of reporting stores 511 I Number of cities 229 31 31 29 16 13 51 29 20 10 16 21 22 lH § 32 9 16 15 20 13 19 25 13 73 12 14 4 27 17 15 12 20 19 24 27 •19 22 •February figures preliminary; in most districts the month had one more trading day this year than last year.
