NEW YORK, Sept 30 - U.S. chain store sales fell for the third week in a row, signaling the hot pace of summer sales is over, a report showed on Tuesday. Sales fell 0.4 percent in the week ended Sept. 27, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS said in a joint report, after tumbling 1.8 percent in the prior week. Compared with the previous year, sales for the week rose 4.4 percent, up from a 4.0 percent gain the week before. As a result of what the report called "some fundamental softening in consumer demand," BTM/UBS cut its September comparable store sales expectation to growth of 3.5 percent on a year-over-year basis from 3.5 percent to 4.0 percent.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expected to report September same store sales growth of 5 percent, topping the report's selected monthly comparable store sales estimates. Arkansas-based Wal-Mart on Monday reaffirmed its forecast for third quarter earnings of 45 to 47 cents per share. The BTM/UBS Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is compiled from a group of major discount, department and chain stores that report their weekly results. The BTM/UBS index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.//