Weak holiday spending bump -- less than half of last year's
U.S. Holiday Sales Rise 0.7% as Washington Hurts Confidence
U.S. holiday sales growth slowed by more than half this year after gridlock in Washington soured consumers’ moods and Hurricane Sandy disrupted shopping, MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse said.
Retail sales grew by 0.7 percent from Oct. 28 through Dec. 24, the Purchase, New York, research firm said yesterday, without providing a dollar figure in the billions. Sales grew at a 2 percent pace in the same period a year ago. SpendingPulse tracks total U.S. sales at stores and online via all payment forms.
Americans became skittish as Washington approached the end of the year without an agreement to forestall higher taxes and automatic spending cuts -- the so-called fiscal cliff. Hurricane Sandy interrupted shopping in stores and online after it slammed into the East Coast in late October. Last month, retailers from Macy’s Inc. (M) to Target Corp. (TGT) posted same-store sales that trailed analysts’ estimates.
“You are looking at modest to marginal growth from a year ago,” Michael McNamara, a SpendingPulse vice president, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Weather events and the fiscal debate both anchored the season in terms of growth. The media coverage, which did a good job of explaining the negative consequences of the fiscal cliff, created this negative trend in consumer confidence and spending.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Retailing Index dropped 0.3 percent to 652.26 at 9:42 a.m. in New York, compared with a 0.1 percent gain for the broader S&P 500. The 33-company retail index had jumped 25 percent this year through Dec. 24.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-25/u-s-holiday-sales-advanced-a-marginal-0-7-spendingpulse-says.html
Notice all the propagandistic 'explanations' they throw in -- oh, it's hurricane sandy, oh, people are worried about the fiscal cliff.
bullshit. they have less money. less money. less security.
consumer confidence has dropped the last 5 months, & december was the lowest yet.
= new reply since forum marked as read
