![]()
- US Home Prices Up 5th Month, 2nd Straight Quarter
- Revised GDP Reading Puts Growth at 2.8%; Inflation Tame
- US Economy Mired in 'Form of Depression': Rosenberg
- Strong Banks, Weak Credit: Treasury Rethinks TARP
- Weak Dollar Is Golden for Mining Companies
- How Many US Consumers Will Shop this Weekend?
- GE Capital Losses May See Dramatic Fall: JP Morgan
- Galleon's Rajaratnam Denies Inside Trading Charges
- Heinz, Hormel Optimistic About Sales in 2010
- 5 Stocks That Benefit from Health Care Legislation: Analysts
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- US Home Prices Up 5th Month, 2nd Straight Quarter
- Weak Dollar Is Golden for Mining Companies
- Revised GDP Reading Puts Growth at 2.8%; Inflation Tame
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
Easing fears the Economic Grinch will steal Christmas, the CNBC Holiday Central Survey finds that Americans appear ready to increase their holiday spending a healthy 6% over last year to $782. But downbeat views on housing and the economy are sapping some of the holiday cheer.
![]() |
AP |
The percentage of Americans homeowners expecting a decrease in their home price has grown to 16% from 9%. An American who believes his home price will decrease in the next 12 months will spend 23% less, or $110, this holiday season than the average American. Fortunately, most Americans don't believe their home prices will decline.
About a third still believe their home values will increase over the next year, down from 40% in March. The average expected growth in home prices is just 2.2%, about half the expectation from October. Still, half of Americans expect their home price to stay the same over the next year and the survey shows their holiday spending will be more than $100 higher than average.
Americans are relatively downbeat on the economy. Nearly three-quarters rate the economy "only fair" or "poor." An American who rates the economy as poor will spend 13% less than the average.
The Holiday Central Survey also finds:
CNBC's Starbucks Indicator: 1 in 9 polled say they're cutting back on their high-priced coffee purchases. A whopping two-thirds of Americans say they don't drink premium coffee drinks at all.
Discounts Matter: 3 out of every 4 Americans say discount and holiday sales are critical in determining where to shop and what to buy.
Big Boxes Rule, Online Is Cool: Big Box stores like Wal-Mart are still the prime destination for holiday shopping, but they've lost some ground to online shopping.
Holiday Payback: While nearly half of Americans won't have leftover debt following their shopping when the Christmas Season, a full 23% will still be in debt more than two months after the holidays.
Wii Nation: Last holiday season, Americans were split as to which console they wanted: Wii, XBox360 of PlayStation3. They're split no longer... Amongst consumers who have a specific video game console in mind, nearly 80% are looking for a Wii.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates discuss the economy and other subjects with CNBC's Becky Quick.
- Congressman Ron Paul explains to Squawk Box why he’s pushing legislation to audit the Federal Reserve.
- …you'll want to be prepared. Tips for getting the most out of the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.
- A diet high in fat and sugar might actually be good for your portfolio.
- One shopper explains why he gets up at 3am on the day after Thanksgiving to go shopping every year.
- From the AIG&T to the Merrill Lychee, Jane Wells lists this year's holiday cocktails.













