• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, August 14, 2009

Despite posting a $1 million loss for the second quarter, JCPenney says it's seeing positive signs in its back-to-school sales, and raised its forecast for the second half.

"We added marketing dollars to the back-to-school period," says Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chairman and CEO of the Plano, Texas-based company, in a conference call announcing the results, "and we think that's going to turn out to be a wise decision. We've seen good response to the newness and freshness of inventory, especially in juniors and kids. Given that it's only 10 days into the back-to-school season, it's hard to declare victory, but we're seeing some good signs."

The company's $1 million loss, better than initially forecast, compares with net income of $117 million in the same quarter a year ago. Total sales in the second quarter dropped 7.9% to $3.94 billion, compared to $4.28 billion in the same period a year ago.

Comparable-store sales sank 9.5% -- again, somewhat better than expected. As a result, the company raised its predictions for full-year results to $0.75-$0.90 per share, compared to its previous forecast of $0.50-$0.65 per share, and now believes full-year comparable-stores sales will decline between 7 and 7.5%.

"JCPenney's financial performance in the second quarter shows that our strategy to navigate the current, very difficult consumer climate is working and will continue to position us well over the near and longer term," Ullman says.

Similarly, Nordstrom posted better-than-forecast second-quarter results, and upped its forecasts as well. For the second quarter, the Seattle-based chain says its net earnings fell to $105 million, compared with $143 million in the same period last year. And sales decreased 6.2% to $2.14 billion, from $2.29 billion during the same period in fiscal 2008. Same-store sales declined 12.3% -- less than expected. As a result, it now expects same-store sales to decline between 9% and 12% for the fiscal year -- an improvement over its initial predictions.

Earlier this week, Macy's also raised its forecasts.

Still, there's no arguing that the retail environment has been punishing. NPD Group, a market research company based in Port Washington, N.Y., just released its first-half figures, and says that overall, U.S. spending on apparel fell 7% to $84.78 billion in the first six months of 2009, compared to $91.17 billion a year earlier.