- Foreclosures: Why California, Florida Matter To Rest Of Country
- Video: Sell Your Gold?
- S&P and Nasdaq on track for 5-day losing streak
- See What People Are Saying About... Merrill Downgrade
- A Tale of Two Homebuilders
- Google: Happy Tenth Anniversary--Now What?
- Strategists: Embrace The Fear and Buy!
- Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady On Pay And "Secrecy"
- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell On League And NFL Network
- Surge in Joblessness May Deepen US Housing Slump
- Are We Headed for a Recession? Take Our Poll
- Treasurys Turn Lower After Stocks Pare Losses
- Rising Dollar to Curb Exports: Feldstein
- Nokia Shares Fall on Third-Quarter Warning
- Unemployment Hits 6.1%, Fueling Recession Fears
- Europe Slowdown Worse than US: Goldman
- How China's Bet on US Paper Went Wrong
- Altria in Talks to Buy UST for $10 Billion
More Videos
 |
Kathy Willens / AP |
Pick a survey, any survey.
The range of growth can be whatever you'd prefer when it comes to picking just how successful this holiday was for stores:
- Up 2.4% (3.6% if you add in gas), according to MasterCard [MA
Loading...
()
];
- Below 2.5%, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers;
- And even up almost 7% versus last year, according to Craig Johnson of Consumer Growth Partners (the rosiest that I've seen so far).
I've gotten a fair amount of angry e-mails from business news watchers, saying that growth is growth and that the financial press -- including myself -- hasn't been rosy enough in describing holiday sales as good.
(Clearly, they don't receive the notes and emails that I get from retail stock investors and analysts, talking about the confusing sales results this holiday!)
But the point is not whether stores made money: Clearly, even with a small sales gain and promotional pricing of products, stores will make profits. Consumers are indeed spending more than they have in years past.
No, the real question is whether we've reached a tipping point in maxing out that growth rate or overtapping consumer budgets.
(Not that spending beyond budget ever stopped consumers. I know it doesn't stop me! And it certainly didn't stop millions of Americans from taking on mortgages beyond their sensible budget range. But I digress...)
As with every story on Wall Street, investors are obsessed with growth. Retail stock investors have been e-mailing me like mad, characterizing the holiday picture as frankly "confusing."
They are all waiting on pins and needles to see whether Target's [TGT
Loading...
()
] flat December sales guidance will be the norm, or whether more stores will have good news like Costco [COST
Loading...
()
] shared today -- the discounter indicated that inventories are under control and that they won't need to take heavy markdowns. They'll have to wait until Jan. 10 to get answers!
On a completely different note: Markdowns aren't good for stores but they are for consumers -- including me! J. Crew [JCG
Loading...
()
], Foot Locker [FL
Loading...
()
] , Express, Nordstrom [JWN
Loading...
()
] were just some of the stores that I wandered into, to check prices. $100 boots marked down to $15 at J.Crew! Are you still shopping this season? Why not?
Questions? Comments?
Del.icio.us
Digg It
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes