RETAIL

The dollar briefly rose on Wednesday after a report showed May U.S. retail sales growth was the largest since January 2006, but pared gains after U.S. Treasury yields slipped.

Sales by retailers rebounded by a stronger-than-expected 1.4 percent in May as consumers shrugged off higher gasoline prices and increased spending on cars, clothing and building materials, a Commerce Department report showed on Wednesday.

Source Interlink Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: SORC) said on Monday that it has agreed to buy Primedia Inc.'s (NYSE:PRM) Enthusiast Media division for $1.2 billion cash.

Insurance broker Aon Inc. (NYSE: AOC) posted an 8 percent increase first quarter profit Thursday, on strong revenue growth in its Americas division.

The Home Depot Inc.(NYSE: HD), the largest home improvement retailer, said Monday that it could sell its wholesale distribution unit as part of its strategic revision.

Ikea, the world's leading home furnishing retailer, announced Wednesday that it will expand its presence into the Southeast region of the U.S., with plans to begin construction in North Carolina within months.

Driven by a strong rise in holiday spending, U.S. retail Web sites crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time, collecting $102.1 billion in 2006, a 24 percent increase over the previous year.

As holiday shopping winds down, new research shows Toy shoppers are migrating more to Target stores than the main competition which includes Toys R Us and Wal-Mart.

As U.S. shoppers gear up for the Black Friday post-Thanksgiving shopping spree, retailers have been rushing to draw attention to promotions and aggressive price cuts.

U.S. online apparel spending grew over 32 percent in the third quarter compared to a year ago. Specialty retailers accounted for the largest share of sales, according to new research.

Online retail traffic is up 6.2 percent for the two weeks ending November 11, compared to the same period in 2005, with popular online shopping site Amazon.com attracting the largest number of website hits, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The Romanian IT services market is expanding at a rapid pace, with experts expecting growth of 18.8% for 2006, just slightly lower than growth of 2005.

Jewelry sales in the U.S. are expected to rise 6.3 percent from 2005 to reach $62.6 billion by the end of the year, according to the Bureau of Economic analysis.

Retailer Target Corp. reported its net sales for the five-week period prior to September 30, were up 13.4 percent.

Gap Inc. and Banana Republic are expanding their relationship with F J Benjamin Holdings Ltd. by opening new stores in Indonesia.

Calvin Klein (CKI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips-Van Heusen, has announced an exclusive distribution agreement and retail store license for India with Murjani India.

Changes could be coming for retailers like Gap Inc. and Pier 1 Imports Inc. that have struggled with falling same-store sales, while other retailers, like jeweler Zale Corp. will be watched to see if they can rebound from missteps during last year's holidays.

Korean social networking Cyworld's recently launched U.S. unit said on Thursday it signed with a Hollywood talent agency to help it win licensing deals with media properties that appeal to young Web users.

National Australia Bank's (NAB) head of retail operations says the bank is considering setting up shop in smaller retail outlets as it looks to diversify its customer facing channels.

Hong Kong continues to be the preferred base for international companies to oversee their regional operations, a Census & Statistics Department survey suggests. The number of regional operations and local offices in Hong Kong operated by overseas and Mainland companies reached its highest-ever level this year, topping 6,350.

MFI Furniture Group has agreed to sell its loss making retail operations to private equity group Merchant Equity Partners (MEP) for a nominal 1 pound