Late Holiday Shopping Puts Retailers Ahead (up 3.6% over 2008)

[jpak]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703991304574622362656691796.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews

Retailers won the closely watched holiday skirmish with shoppers, who opened their wallets a little bit despite a still struggling economy, fewer discounts than last year and limited variety on store shelves, according to newly released data.

A late boost from procrastinating consumers and an extra day of shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas increased total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gas, 3.6% over the year-earlier period through Christmas Eve, according to MasterCard Inc.'s SpendingPulse unit.

Still, excluding the extra shopping day, the sales increase would have been closer to 1%, MasterCard said

While some retail sectors fared better than others, overall "I'd call it a good season because the profits will be good," said Maggie Gilliam, president of Gilliam & Co., an independent retail research and advisory firm in New York.

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[jpak]

1. Kicking for the Humbuggers

:D

[jpak]

6. Holiday Cheer unrecced?

Who Knew???

:rofl:

[donco6]

2. That's good news. n/t

[blondeatlast]

3. Good news. Retailers anticipated a bad season and were conservative in their offerings this year.

As a result, there are fewer markdowns. This is very good news and reflects what I observed.

[rfranklin]

4. As mentioned it was actually a one percent increase...

over last year when people were in a panic. This is nothing to crow about.

This will do nothing to increase the number of jobs. Except, perhaps, in China.

We need a whole new idea about what constitutes a good economy, rather than trying to inflate the stock market back to bubble status.

[blondeatlast]

7. Ah, but it won't LOSE jobs, either. Had there been a decrease, jobs

would be lost and more stores would close (a lot of major retailers closed many stores last year).

I spent many years in retail; the holiday season is a deal-breaker. Yes, the stuff is made in China--but the people who sell it and drive it to the stores and ship it out and pay the rent live here--and are far more likely to retain their jobs than they would have been last year.

[MadHound]

5. In other words, it was a one percent increase,

But the retail sector is trying to dress it all up as a great increase. Let me guess, here in a month or so that number will be revised downwards, and we might even end up with a loss.

[jpak]

8. Yes - Everyone knows that the Evil Rhamsputin is cooking the books for the Bad Obama who must FAIL!

It was really a 3335663% decline in holiday sales!!!11

Santa sed so!

Yup!

:D

[rfranklin]

9. You just made yourself irrelevant...

with a pointless post.

[jpak]

10. !

:rofl:

[MadHound]

12. Well, you just revealed your true self,

Nothing more than another cheerleader, trying to discount any bad news, and dismiss anybody who brings reality to the subject.

Notice, I said nothing about Rahm, Obama, or the Democrats. In fact I specifically stated "retail sector", you know, folks like the National Association of Retail Marketing Services, or the National Retail Federation, etc. Instead, you somehow think that I'm talking about Obama:eyes:

In your blindness and haste you've just revealed that you're nothing more than another administration propagandist. Good job!

[jpak]

13. No - you posted speculative know-nothing nonsense about these numbers

That they were really *wrong* and really reflected a decline on 2009 holiday sales - based on what?

Know Nothing Nonsense.

and yes - I did reveal my true self!

I am a cheerleader!

Go Economy - Beat Doomsters - Rah Rah Rah!

:D

[MadHound]

14. Well, let's look at the track record of such numbers

For the past twenty five years or so, numbers ranging from retail spending, to Christmas spending, to the GDP, to unemployment are regularly massaged into appearing better than reality, and then a month or so later that number is quietly revised downward. Go look this up for yourself. It has happened like clockwork, under every administration. It is known as trying to talk up the economy, sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't, but they keep trying anyway.

As far as this particular number goes, well first of all, even they admit that the extra day made some sort of difference, in their reckoning, a two percent difference. I'm sorry, but I seriously doubt that one single day can pull the numbers down, or up, that much. That leads me to the suspicion that the numbers are being cooked a bit, and we'll come up with a "revision" at a later date.

Furthermore, it really is too soon to have a full and complete picture of the holiday season, especially since most retailers aren't going to close their books until this Thursday. Not to mention the fact that the official holiday shopping season generally extends to the week after Christmas, so we're dealing with a report that is incomplete. Never a really good thing.

So if you're a cheerleader for the economy, how come you instead automatically assumed that I was attacking Obama when I didn't mention his name? Yeah, I thought so:eyes:

[jpak]

18. Yes - a wise man once said " it's the economy stupid"

Lots of folks who want Obama to fail are rooting for bad economic data - and will poo poo anything that suggests his economic policies are working.

In their world: Good News Bad, Bad News Good.

Too bad for them all the news is good for a change....:D

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jpak]

17. baseless speculation and of no relevance to these numbers

try again

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. Cool, but recognize the nature of these YoY numbers...

Almost every year-over-year economic number should be looking good because one year ago we were rocketing toward a global depression.

1% or even 3.6% over last year is a pretty modest increase from disaster levels.

But, hey... better than a stick in the eye.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

16. It might not be a huge percentage but it can only mean we're in the right direction all we need is..

time.