What you're seeing is that some retailers are getting back to normal, but the weakness seems pretty widespread among department stores. So it's still an extremely fragile environment.

Can you raise the question of whether the retail industry is finally on the mend? Given the picture that's developing here, tentatively at least you can say, yeah. Certainly we can make more upbeat comments on the holiday season.

Wow, wow, wow, ... We saw widespread gains across categories last month. Looking at the ex-auto component, the (favorable) comparisons are reaching back all the way to March 2000, prior to the slowdown at the peak of the economic recovery.

It was an OK year, not a boom, not a bust.

[Mix 'n match season for apparel :] Apparel is clearly a mixed bag, ... We have some very good and very weak performers.

It looks like that number is tracking at 6.8 percent, slightly higher than what we expected, ... We did expect it would be a lot stronger but sales got pinched at the end of the month because of cooler temperatures in some parts of the country.