Holiday Sales Not a Disaster
From Reuters, via 24/7 Wall Street.
The holiday shopping
season got off to a slow start as consumers, squeezed by the economic
crisis, bought carefully and said they would wait for better deals
closer to Christmas.
Early results from the Black Friday weekend, which kicks off holiday sales one day after U.S. Thanksgiving, bolstered forecasts by some analysts that total holiday sales could contract for the first time since that data started being collected in the early 1990s.
ShopperTrak, which measures customer traffic, said on Saturday that Black Friday sales rose 3 percent to $10.6 billion. That was slower than an 8.3 percent rise in 2007.
"The initial response by many people may be positive," said Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joseph Feldman of the increase.
But, Feldman said, excluding inflation the sales figures are roughly flat year over year. His firm still expects overall holiday sales will be flat to slightly down.
Flat sales? Considering the prognostications for disaster, I'll take it.
»
- Read original article.
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