By Sarah Coffey

By Sarah Coffey

Will financial-market turmoil be the Grinch this Christmas?

Shares of department stores were mixed Friday after the House voted to approve the government's $700 billion financial rescue plan.

Wal-Mart Stores is cutting prices on popular toys and ramping up the opening of Christmas shops in its U.S. stores as the retailer tries to win sales from cash-strapped shoppers ahead of what could be the worst holiday season in 17 years.

By Nicole Maestri

By Nicole Maestri

By Nicole Maestri

But despite -- and many argue because of -- the depressing litany of news on everything from foreclosures to wrangling over a whopping $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, there is one item retailers dare not cut from their holiday lineup even if they're looking to trim costs: Santa Claus.

By Nick Carey

Shares of department stores plummeted Monday along with the broader financial markets after the House defeated a plan to bail out the financial services industry.

For many of the nation’s retailers, this is shaping up to be the most critical holiday season since the recession of the early 1980s. Chains that fare poorly could end up as ghosts of Christmases past, says the New York Times.

Shares of department stores fell Monday along with the broader market amid investors' fears that the ongoing credit crisis will dampen economies globally.

Attention Wall Street: Add the precipitous slowdown in consumer spending to the list of worries and reasons to think a recession is underway or imminent. 

Stocks closed lower, hurt by rising oil prices and fresh worries about the financial sector, though the market ended off its lows for the day.