Two sets of weekly retail sales reports -- The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS Index and the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index -- are set for release at 7:45 a.m. and 8:55 a.m. EST, respectively. There are no consensus estimates available.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index, which monitors 9,000 retail units, showed same-store sales edged up 1.3 percent for the week ended Dec. 22, compared with the year-ago period. However, same-store sales fell 0.7 percent compared with November's results.

The ICSC-UBS Index, which tracks 53 stores, reported that same-store sales, or revenue at stores open at least a year, rose 2.8 percent from the prior week ended Dec. 22. Same-store sales grew by 2.8 percent from a year earlier.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

"We will be watching the next few weeks to determine how successful this holiday shopping season will be for retailers," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist, in a note to clients.

Like most of the economy, the retail industry has been struggling with consumer's gloomy confidence and curbed spending as a result of falling home prices, tighter lending standards and rising food and energy prices.

The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 7 cents overnight, to $3.046 a gallon Monday, or nearly 31 percent above the same period last year, according to AAA and the Oil and Price Information Services.

Retailers won't know just how faint a glow the 2007 holiday cast until as late as Jan. 10, when stores report their December same-store figures. However, Niemira expects same-store sales in the November-December period to fall below 2.5 percent, well below the 2.9 percent gain seen in 2006.