This morning, several retailers reported August same-store sales. This is an important report because it provides investors with an idea of how strong or weak the back-to-school shopping season was.

Quick Take: Overall, the back-to-school season was weak. Below is a sample of 22 retailers that reported same-store sales and only 8 of those companies reported a positive number. And despite ankle-high expectations, half of those companies reporting same-store sales missed those low expectations.

The trade down trend is still working with positive comps from Wal-Mart (WMT), Costco (COST), BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ), and TJX Companies (TJX). Department stores in the mid-to-high end continue to struggle. Specialty retailers were all over the map, with Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) down 11% while Buckle (BKL) was up 22% and Aeropostale (ARO) was up 13%.

Closing thought: Retail stocks have caught a bid over the last several weeks,

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Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow23 June 2008 Investment climate is steady as new leader continues reform agenda Russia’s equity markets are enjoying the country’s honeymoon period under its new leadership, but investors remain wary of how the power-sharing arrangement will evolve.The changing of the guard on May 7 saw Vladimir Putin hand over the presidential mantle to his protégé Dmitry Medvedev. Within hours, Medvedev had nominated his mentor Putin as Prime Minister.The smooth choreography proved to be a fillip for Russia’s main stock markets and sparked a buying spree by foreign funds.The MSCI Russia Index was the best performing emerging equity market last month, rising 15.7%, and outperforming the MSCI EM Emea index, which rose 7.3% in the same month. Inflows recorded in the third week of May of $542m (€350m) were the highest in Russia ...