Snow storms blamed for sharp drop in US chain store sales

US weekly chain store sales fell sharply in the latest week, as snowstorms in the Northeast hampered seasonal holiday shopping, according to the BTM-UBS weekly chain store index.

The index fell 2.5% last week, since falling 0.1% in the previous week.

The index weakened to a 4.9% year-over-year increase, compared with a 5.2% year-over-year increase in the previous week.

Despite the inclement weather, BTM-UBS said it expects December sales will grow by about 3.5 -4.5%.

"Sales have ample time to recover from the 'snowstorm loss' before the holiday season wraps up," the firms said.

This is to be the last release of chain store sales by BTM-UBS - the report will be continued in the future by a joint venture of the International Council of Shopping Centres and UBS.