US chain retailers’ October sales figures on Thursday underlined shoppers’ cautious mood, with many mainstream retailers still seeing flat or declining sales against the lows seen a year ago.

Macy’s, the largest US department store, reported comparable sales at stores open at least a year that were only slightly down from October 2008, decreasing 0.8 per cent. Target, the discounter, also reported sales slightly down at 0.1 per cent, with Gregg Steinhafel, chief executive, describing the performance as “slightly better than our expectation”.