Halloween 2009’s landing on a Saturday may have spooked shoppers: Penney said that sales at stores open at least a year fell 4.5 percent in October, hurt in part by Halloween. Still, it was a slightly better performance than the retailer expected, and Penney raised its third-quarter profit outlook. The company had forecast a decline of 5 to 8 percent. Total sales fell 3.5 percent to $1.31 billion from a year earlier. The company expects profit for the third quarter of 10 to 11 cents per share, up from a prior projection of 3 to 10 cents.
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