Kohl's, Target See Positive Holiday Season

RAPAPORT... Kohl's and Target both reported sales growth during the holiday season, continuing the positive trend seen in the US retail sector this year.  Kohl's reported a 6.9% year on year rise in total sales, with growth across most categories."We are very pleased with our holiday-period sales, which wereconsistently strong through November and December." said Kevin Mansell, chairman and CEO of Kohl's said Monday. "All lines of business and allregions reported positive [comparable] sales." Target saw higher than expected growth, with comparable sales - from stores open for at leasta year -rising 3.4% over November and December 2016."We are very pleased with our holiday-season performance, whichreflects the progress we've made against our strategy throughout the year," Brian Cornell, Target's chairmanand CEO, said Tuesday. He attributed the strong holidayshowing in part to the company's decision to invest more money in growing andmodernizing its stores.Earlier, J.C. Penney's and Macy's also reported increased year-on-yearholiday sales growth, with a large percentage of their gain coming from fine-jewelrypurchases.Both Kohl's and Target noted they saw stronger foot traffic inside stores.Image: Kristiantiholov