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Sales at U.S. retailers probably declined in February as blizzards kept Americans away from malls and auto-dealer showrooms, economists said before a government report this week.

Purchases dropped 0.2 percent after a 0.5 percent gain the prior month, according to the median estimate of 56 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Commerce Department figures on March 12. Other reports may show the trade gap widened in January and consumers grew more confident this month.

Figures last week showing the U.S. lost fewer jobs in February than anticipated, overcoming the effects of the snowstorms that caused some companies to temporarily close, signals employment is on the verge of accelerating. More hiring and wage increases will be critical in lifting consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy.

“Retail sales likely would have squeaked out a modest gain if not for the severe snowstorms,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, “consumers will have to spend more freely for the recovery to sustain itself.”

A Labor Department report March 5 showed the economy lost 36,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent for a second month, indicating the labor market is stabilizing.

President Barack Obama, speaking at a Washington-area energy company, said the job report was “actually better than expected.” Even so, he said the number of unemployed is “more than we should tolerate” and urged Congress to pass a jobs bill to help lower unemployment.

Auto Sales

Auto sales fell last month to an annual pace of 10.4 million vehicles from 10.8 million in January, according to industry data last week. Toyota Motor Corp. sales fell 8.7 percent from a year earlier as it struggled with global recalls that halted demand for some models. Ford Motor Co., overcoming the snowstorms that curbed showroom traffic, beat General Motors Co. in monthly sales for the first time since 1998.

Excluding automobiles, retail sales were probably little changed after a 0.6 percent gain the prior month, according to the Bloomberg survey.

Chain stores turned in a better-than-forecast performance last month, compared with a low point last year, industry figures showed last week. Macy’s Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Gap Inc. beat analysts’ estimates in February as holiday sales and spring collections tempted consumers to go shopping in a month of record snowfalls.

Same-Store Sales

February comparable-store sales climbed 4.1 percent, topping the Retail Metrics 3 percent estimate. It was the sixth straight monthly gain and the biggest in 27 months. Purchases fell 4.1 percent in February 2009, Ken Perkins, president of Swampscott, Massachusetts-based Retail Metrics, said last week.

TJX Corporation Inc., an off-price apparel chain, reported a 16 percent sales increase in the four weeks ended Feb. 27 from a year earlier.

“We achieved these sales despite the harsh snowstorms that affected many regions in the country,” said Sherry Lang, investor vice president, in a teleconference on March 4. “The month ended on a stronger note than we had anticipated.”

Households are feeling less pessimistic. The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for March probably rose to 73.8 from 73.6 a month earlier, according to the Bloomberg survey before the March 12 release.

Fewer Claims

In a sign that job losses are abating, a report from the Labor Department on March 11 may show initial jobless claims fell to 460,000 last week from 469,000 the previous week, according to economists surveyed.

Stocks have recovered from a January slump prompted by concerns of a possible Greek default and government plans to boost oversight over banks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has gained 6 percent since the end of January.

The economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, the strongest showing in more than six years as companies tried to stabilize inventories, the government reported last month. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg early last month forecast growth will slow to 3 percent in this quarter.

A Commerce Department report on March 12 may show business inventories rose 0.2 percent in January after dropping 0.2 percent the prior month, according to economists surveyed.

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Stocks struggled Wednesday as investors weighed the Greek debt situation, a strong dollar and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s plan for eventually withdrawing some of the trillions of dollars used to bolster the nation’s financial system.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 20 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) lost 2 points, or 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 3 points, or 0.1%.

Stocks rallied Tuesday as growing bets that the European Union will rescue Greece from its debt problems reassured investors after a four-week selloff. But stocks were choppy Wednesday on concerns that Greece is just the first of many countries that is feeling the pressure of a growing deficit.

Stocks also remain vulnerable to a retreat in the aftermath of 2009’s big rally, in which the S&P 500 gained 23%. In the last nine months of 2009, it gained 65%, bouncing off 12-year lows hit in March.

"Greece’s issues will get addressed, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bigger market pullback in the weeks ahead anyway," said Tim McCandless, senior equity analyst at Bel Air Investment Advisors.

However, he said that a larger retreat would probably be met with buyers stepping in at lower levels. Since hitting a rally high on Jan. 19, the S&P 500 is down almost 7%, as of Wednesday’s close.

Bernanke’s comments on the Fed’s plans to wind down its extraordinary measures to bolster lending and the strengthening of the dollar versus the euro were also in play Wednesday.

Bank shares bounced up after several down sessions, countering some of the broader weakness in the market. The KBW Bank (BKX) index gained 1%.

Thursday brings reports on January retail sales, December business inventories and weekly jobless claims.

Bernanke: The Federal Reserve chairman said that while the U.S. economy continues to require the support of emergency programs the Fed enacted at the height of the financial crisis, "at some point the Federal Reserve will need to tighten financial conditions."

He said that the Fed will pull cash from the system before it lifts interest rates, and that its decision to boost the emergency "discount" rate is not the same as a shift in policy. The prepared testimony was meant to be delivered at a House Financial Services Committee hearing that was postponed due to snow.

Debt crisis: Reports late Wednesday said France and Germany may present a rescue plan for Greece at Thursday’s meeting of euro zone countries. Meanwhile, Greece has vowed to press forward with cutbacks, despite an ongoing worker strike.

Although Greece’s impact is small, the threat of a default there has intensified worries about other debt-challenged European countries, including Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy paydayloans. A crisis overseas would set back the still-fragile global economic recovery and hurt U.S. financial institutions. Investors are also keeping an eye on the growing U.S. budget deficit.

"Even if the EU comes in and stabilizes the debt issue in Greece, my concern is that we still have so much debt around the globe that hasn’t been addressed," said Dean Barber, president at Barber Financial Group.

The debt crisis has sparked something of a flight from risk over the last few weeks, with investors choosing government bonds and the dollar over stocks. Investors have fled the euro in favor of the greenback and have sold dollar-traded commodities, commodity stocks and a broad swath of securities in other sectors.

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have all declined the past four weeks, despite improved quarterly earnings and revenues, and some positive signs in the economic reports.

Despite Tuesday’s rally, the market is likely to stay a "choppy mess" for a while, Barber said.

Economy: The December trade gap widened to $40.2 billion in December from a revised $36.4 billion in November, the government reported Wednesday morning. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would narrow to $35.8 billion. The widening reflected a pick-up in imports amid the recovering economy.

Walt Disney: The media behemoth reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue in a report released after the close of trading Tuesday. Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) shares rose 0.6%.

World markets: European markets mostly ended higher, while Asian markets ended with strong gains.

The dollar and commodities: The U.S. dollar rallied versus the euro and the Japanese yen.

U.S. light crude oil for March delivery rose 77 cents to settle at $74.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for April delivery fell 90 cents to settle at $1,076.30.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.68% from 3.64% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers narrowly edged winners on volume of 1 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers on volume of 2.04 billion shares.  

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The Toronto stock market ended Friday in negative territory as weakness in base metals and materials edged out gold and better-than-expected earnings from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed 9.66 points lower to 11,463.40 in a volatile session that slipped into the red during the final hour on high volume trading.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.38 of a cent to 93.81 cents (U.S.)

Pulling the index lower was weakness in the base metals sector, which fell 1.4 per cent with HudBay Minerals down nearly 9 per cent to $12.83 (Canadian).

The materials sector also dropped 0.8 per cent with shares in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan 6 per cent lower to $112.00 on concerns about potash prices.

Soleil Securities downgraded the company’s stock to "sell" from "hold" on weakening prices, particularly in China.

On the upside, gold stocks were up 0.9 per cent as the February bullion contract closed $4.10 (U.S.) higher to $1,111.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The TSX energy sector slipped 0.9 per cent as reports surfaced from the Iraqi government that an oil well had been taken over by a group of armed Iranians. The February crude contract gained 34 cents to close at $74 personal loan for poor credit.42, while the less active January contract ended 71 cents higher to $73.36.

RIM, a heavyweight on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index, was ahead 10 per cent after managing to beat expectations in an earnings report issued after the closing bell Thursday. The TSX Venture Exchange was up 9.05 to 1,430.20.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials rose 20.63 points to 10,328.89. The Nasdaq composite index was up 31.64 points to 2,211.69, while the S&P 500 index increased 6.31 points to 1,102.39.

Statistics Canada said wholesale sales edged up 0.3 per cent to $41.1 billion (Canadian) in October, the fourth increase in five months.

Drugmaker Patheon said its fourth-quarter earnings were $4.6 million, down from a year-ago profit of $37.3 million. The Canadian company’s shares rose five cents to $2.47.

Bombardier Transportation signed a $138 million contract with a Chinese rail company to provide metro cars and training. Its shares closed up five cents at $4.78.

From the Star’s wire services

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DETROIT–General Motors Co. chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. urged the troubled automaker’s employees to forget their old bureaucratic culture, telling them Friday not to fear being fired for taking risks.

Whitacre, who also announced key management changes, wants to speed up the automaker’s shift to an entrepreneurial culture where decisions are made quickly.

"We want you to step up. We don’t want any bureaucracy,” Whitacre told employees, strolling back and forth across a stage at the company’s headquarters.

"We’re not going to make it if you won’t take a risk," he told the audience of 800.

In a 45-minute presentation that was broadcast to employees on internal television networks and over the Internet, Whitacre also unveiled a mission statement to design, build and sell the world’s best vehicles.

Whitacre, who peppered his address with self-deprecating humour, named vice-chairman Bob Lutz, who has long advocated for a more risk-taking culture, as his adviser for product development.

Whitacre also said he is recombining sales and marketing, placing them under Susan Docherty no faxing payday loans.

She became head of sales when former CEO Fritz Henderson separated the roles of sales and marketing. Henderson left the company earlier this week.

Lutz, 77, who had been in charge of marketing, will help Whitacre learn about the business, he said.

In another key move, the chairman, who joined GM in June, promoted engineering chief Mark Reuss to run North American operations. Reuss recently was named head of engineering, and before that ran the company’s Holden operations in Australia.

GM board member Stephen Girsky, a former auto analyst with Morgan Stanley, will also be an adviser to Whitacre.

During his speech, Whitacre set a tone of humility and encouraged employees to give him ideas.

"I’m on the 39th floor of the RenCen. You’re all welcome," he said.

"You’re a terrific bunch of employees. You have our support. Let’s go hit it and make this thing big."

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A key House committee, culminating months of debate over how to reform bank rules, voted Wednesday in favor of legislation that aims to prevent firms from growing too big and threatening the financial system.

The House Financial Services Committee passed the bill by a margin of 31-27 along strict party lines, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. The bill, which proponents consider key to preventing the kinds of problems that caused last year’s crisis, will now move to the full House of Representatives for debate and a vote.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the committee, said Wednesday that he believes the full House will consider and vote on the package next week.

The bill would impose stronger supervision of Wall Street and impose tougher capital requirements for banks, while proposing a new way to take over big firms such as American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500). It also includes legislation to regulate derivatives and create a consumer financial protection agency.

But on the Senate side of Capitol Hill, the bill is moving much more slowly and final passage is likely months away.

Also, the bill faces a potential hangup in the House, as the Congressional Black Congress (CBC) on Wednesday announced its displeasure with the lack of support for minority communities in prior financial sector bailout legislation. The CBC said its support for such bills that do not support minority communities, which were hit particularly hard during the recession, "stops today."

"This particular moment provides an opportunity," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a member of the Financial Services Committee and the CBC. "If we’re going to support this bill, which gives regulators extraordinary powers, we have to make sure those powers will benefit small and minority owned businesses as well."

The House bill creates a new kind of unwinding process for big firms, and forces them adhere to stronger supervision mostly by the Federal Reserve working with an oversight council.

Most observers, including those in the financial industry, agree that government officials didn’t have the right tools to properly manage the failures of insurer AIG and investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The bill would also tax big banks to create a $10 billion fund to pay for government takeovers.

One of the most controversial parts of the House bill is a provision to allow the Government Accountability Office to audit Fed activities. Some fear the proposal would interfere with the central bank’s ability to carry out independent monetary policy online payday loans.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, decried the proposal and one in the Senate bill that aims to strip the Fed of its regulatory powers over banks.

"These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States," Bernanke wrote.

House Republicans have generally opposed the "too big to fail" package, because they say it gives government too much power. They would prefer that Congress establish a special bankruptcy process to allow big firms to be liquidated through the court system.

Senate moving slower

The Senate, led by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn, lags the House in trying to reform financial regulation.

Dodd’s bill, only recently unveiled, includes several far-reaching proposals, such as the creation of a super-regulator for all banks — a move the Fed opposes.

Dodd had also said he wants the Senate Banking committee to start working on his bill next week. But myriad objections to the legislation, coming from both Republicans and fellow Democrats on his committee, has pushed the bill into closed-door negotiations that could last a few weeks.

"Barney Frank will get a bill out of committee and through the House, and it will look pretty similar to what he’s been proposing," said Brookings Institution economist Douglas Elliott, a former J.P. Morgan investment banker. "The bigger wild card is the Senate. It’s not clear whether Sen. Dodd has sufficient level of his support for his ideas."

Additionally, the creation of a consumer financial protection agency, already passed by the House committee, could be a deal-breaker for Senate Republicans. The proposed agency would be charged with ensuring that personal financial products, such as mortgages and credit cards, are fair to consumers.

While the new consumer agency is a White House priority, ranking Republicans in the Senate really don’t like it and could filibuster to prevent it from coming to the floor if their demands aren’t met, Elliott said.

– CNNMoney.com staff writer David Goldman contributed to this story 

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Faced with shrinking market shares, fragmenting audiences, disappearing brick-and-mortar recorded music retailers and a continued double-digit decline in compact disc sales, Canadian independent record labels that exclusively sold and distributed CDs until a few years ago are acting as agents and booking concert tours for their artists.

They have formed in-house management companies, and bought ticket agencies and digital download retailers.

"The entire music industry is changing, and nobody knows what it’s changing into, so everyone’s trying to create new strategies that work for them," says Lloyd Nishimura, president of Toronto’s Outside Music, whose company has expanded into artist management with a roster that includes sibling songwriters Matthew and Jill Barber and the Hylozoists.

"I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch if you’re a management company to have in-house booking or other music-related businesses. Everybody will be looking at a whole bunch of opportunities in the future."

"It’s a necessity," adds Geoff Kulawick, president of Burlington-based Linus Entertainment, True North Records and The Children’s Group.

Kulawick, who launched a booking agency under the True North banner in 2008 to promote such developing label artists as Lynn Miles, Catherine MacLellan and Madison Violet, says a hands-on approach to careers is essential these days.

"We can’t be operating in the music space and sell only one aspect of it," he says. "We’re moving from being a record company to becoming a music experience company, and anything that’s connected to the music experience that we can monetize, we want to be there."

Kulawick says his company isn’t about to go toe-to-toe with established agents, or infringe on their territory.

"It’s becoming more difficult for developing artists to find booking agents and concert promoters who are willing to take a risk on booking them, so that’s where we’re stepping in and actively performing that booking/management role for our artists," he says.

Nishimura, whose company has expanded to include a stake in digital retailer Zunior.com and handle the business affairs of musicians, says the Internet has fragmented audiences to a point where marketing can be a challenge.

"With the Internet, people have exposure to every single artist around the world all at the same time, so it is just difficult to stand out from the crowd," says Nishimura.

At the same, Nishimura says the potential opportunities through the still-evolving digital market are limitless: "There are so many different ways that digital revenue comes in – you get money from streams and single download sales, album download sales – and even though you don’t have physical distribution around the world, you can still get digital revenue from around the world."

These companies aren’t alone. In July, publicly traded Somerset Entertainment Income Fund, a Toronto-headquartered specialty music label formed on the backbone of the late Dan Gibson’s groundbreaking nature recordings, purchased digital music retailer Puretracks for $3 million.

Earlier this month Toronto’s MapleCore Ltd., home to the e-commerce site MapleMusic.com, the record labels Maple Music and Open Road Recordings and distribution arm Fontana North, announced the purchase of TicketBreak Corp., a full-service ticketing company.

The good news is these strategies seem to be working. Three of the four companies have experienced cumulative double-digit growth since 2005, with MapleCore president and CEO Grant Dexter claiming a "100 per cent revenue increase" for his umbrella of companies.

"We’ve added staff and it’s been a great run over the last three or four years," says Dexter, whose MapleMusic.com website sells merchandise, CDs and digital downloads for more than 800 Canadian artists.

Dexter says his company’s acquisition of TicketBreak allows him to offer touring artists such as Jann Arden "VIP packages for their core fan base, including meet-and-greets, exclusive seats and merchandise.

"Technology has allowed, for the first time, for that one-to-one relationship between fan and artist to be transactional," Dexter explains.

Andy Burgess, CEO of the Somerset Entertainment Income Fund – now in the midst of a supported $30.7 million takeover bid by Fluid Music – says strategic music-related deals like his company’s purchase of Puretracks will continue.

"The traditional business model is so very challenging that we have to be really innovative as business managers and figure out how to draw a profit," says Burgess, whose company employs more than 180 people around the world.

"If you have a relationship with an artist, it makes sense to see if you can then run their touring business. If we’ve got a relationship with a retailer, it makes sense to see if we can run their digital music gift cards, or put together music download promotions for their supplier.

"In a very difficult industry, it makes sense to leverage your core strength in different directions, and the smart guys will be able to do (so) in a way where there are endless possibilities."

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On the gift card rack in Shoppers Drug Mart, there are cards for iTunes, movie theatres, Toys `R’ Us and Chapters Indigo. There are even cards for Molly Maid house cleaning services and cards that can be redeemed online at virtual worlds like Habbo Hotel.

Canada’s gift card market, worth roughly $6 billion, has exploded since retailers began issuing plastic cards instead of paper certificates. Now, with gift cards topping the charts as the No. 1 holiday gift, credit card companies are hoping to take a bigger slice of that market.

American Express Co. has struck a partnership with Shoppers to sell its new gift card, which it bills as a "game changer" for the Canadian market.

As the first general-purpose gift card that is completely fee-free for the recipient, Amex says its debut is expected to pressure issuers of rival Visa and MasterCard gift cards to also eliminate back-end fees.

"This is going to force other companies in the gift card space to follow our lead," said Howard Grosfield, vice-president at American Express Canada.

Credit-card gift cards are exempt from Ontario’s 2006 gift card legislation, which banned expiry dates, limited fees and beefed up consumer disclosures on most retail gift cards.

Unlike other general-purpose gift cards, Amex has no after-purchase fees that erode the card’s value over time.

While the purchaser pays an upfront charge, there are no fees to check the balance, no service charges, no costs for card replacement and no expiry date, Grosfield said.

The purchaser’s initial loading price ranges between $4.95 and $6.95, depending on the card’s value of $50, $100 or $200. Grosfield says that pays for Amex to produce the plastic and provide free replacements for lost or stolen cards.

"It is really the back-end fees that really seem to be the big bone of contention in the marketplace, and that’s what’s been completely eliminated on this product," he added.

Rival Visa and MasterCard gift cards have initial loading prices and other service charges that generally apply after six months, along with replacement fees for lost or stolen cards.

Amex says Canadians are now demanding "more transparency" on fees of all kinds, including credit-card gift cards.

While Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduced new credit-card regulations and a proposed voluntary code of conduct for credit and debit, credit-card gift cards were not mentioned in either document.

Nonetheless, Amex’s focus on fees is extremely timely for Canadians. A recent study by Deloitte and Touche predicted that gift cards and certificates would be the No. 1 Christmas gift for 2009.

"We think it can be a huge market if it is treated in the right way," Grosfield said.

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In preparation for the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Wednesday that most of its stores will be open 24 hours for "post-Thanksgiving Day events."

Nearly all 2,737 Wal-Mart Supercenters are already 24 hours, but the change will apply to almost all of the retailer’s 810 discount stores. Local law in some areas prevent stores from operating 24 hours.

Last year, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) discount stores closed in the evening on Thanksgiving Day and reopened early for Black Friday. In some instances, shoppers became unruly, with one worker trampled to death at store in Valley Stream, N.Y low cost payday loans.

In a statement, Wal-Mart said store-specific plans "were developed in consultation with leading safety experts" to address how customers will enter, flow throughout the store and around sales merchandise and through checkout aisles.

"This is part of our overall program to make our stores safer and more convenient for our customers this year," said Daphne Moore, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart.

The in-store specials will be available in all stores beginning at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.  

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Shares of Starbucks Corp jumped 1.5 percent to $20 after the bell on Thursday as the coffee chain operator posted its quarterly results.

(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu)

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