<div id="subtitle">Nordstrom January key sales figure rises 14 percent in January, a bigger jump than expected</div><div><p>Luxury department store chain Nordstrom Inc. said Thursday that sales in its stores that had been open at least a year rose 14 percent in January, much more than analysts expected.</p><p>Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected sales in stores open at least one year to rise 5.5 percent.</p><p>Total sales for the four-week period that ended Jan. 30 rose 16 percent to $543 million from $468 million.</p><p>Sales at stores open at least a year are a key measure of retailer performance because they measure growth at existing stores and exclude those that open or close during the year.</p><p>For the full fourth quarter, the figure rose 6.9 percent, while total sales rose 10 percent to $2.54 billion.</p><p>For the year, sales in stores open at least a year fell 4.2 percent, while total sales were nearly flat at $8.26 billion.</p><p>The company's strongest regions were the Northeast, Midwest and Northern California.</p><p>Selling best were women's shoes, junior women's apparel and hand bags.</p><p>Sales were strongest during the last two weeks of the month, Nordstrom officials said in a prerecorded sales call.</p><p>The average number of transactions grew for the fifth month in a row.</p><p>Nordstrom Inc. runs 112 full-line stores and 72 Nordstrom Rack off-price stores and other stores.</p><p>Company shares fell 44 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $35.61, as part of a broader market sell-off Thursday.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68469044&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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