Traditional city centre high streets could be further threatened by planned out-of-town development laws, MPs warned.

British outdoor goods retailer Blacks Leisure Group Plc said that it had secured funds for a further year, but warned that its full year performance would be below market expectations.

German retailer Metro is examining alternatives to the option of formally merging its department store chain Kaufhof with that of Karstadt, a German magazine said.

Finnish retailer Kesko saw second-quarter earnings halve year-on-year as customers reined in spending, and the firm said its outlook for the next 12 months was gloomy.

Asia is leading a recovery in global trade, but world trade volumes are still expected to shrink 10 percent this year, the World Trade Organization said.

Chile's Falabella, one of South America's leading retailers, is planning to invest $350 million in 2009 in Peru, where it wants to double its size by 2012.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, plans to sell five-year Samurai bonds, documents filed with Japanese financial authorities showed.

India's Future Group said private equity firm Fung Capital has agreed to invest $30 million in Future Logistics Solutions, its logistics and supply chain unit.

Shares in Arcandor are indicated 4.2% lower in pre-bourse trade after the retailer's insolvency lawyer, Horst Piepenburg, steps down citing a lack of support from major shareholder Sal Oppenheim.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, is preparing to hold a meeting to announce the development of an index that will be used to measure the environmental impact of the products it sells in its stores.

South Africa's retail sales fell again in May, boding ill for second quarter GDP and supporting the case for another interest rate cut.

US retail sales rose for the second consecutive month in June, by 0.6 percent, Commerce Department data showed in a report stronger than expected.

Mexican retailers group ANTAD said its members' same-store sales fell in June, breaking a brief recovery in the previous two months, partially hurt by one weekend day less compared with the same period of 2008.

British outdoor goods retailer Blacks Leisure Group Plc posted a further fall in sales in its latest trading period but said it was confident of securing new funds from its lender.

Annual shop price inflation eased to 0.7 percent in June from 1.3 percent in May - its weakest since December, as food price inflation hit a 14-month low, British Retail Consortium data showed.