Holiday Sales Growth Predicted to Decline
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A leading retail trade group predicted yesterday that holiday sales growth will lag behind last year's in an early forecast that set a tepid tone for the most important shopping season of the year.
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Sales of new single-family homes fell 4.7 percent in December while the median sales price fell 10.9 percent to $219,200 from November, according to a government report
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Retailers are in for a gloomy holiday season, with shoppers weighed down by the weakening housing market and the credit crunch, according to industry forecasts.
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The holidays apparently were hard on the economic outlook of middle-aged Americans, according to The Washington Post-ABC News Consumer Comfort Index survey.
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Sales at U.S. retailers fell 0.4  percent in December and were less vigorous in November than  previously thought, according to a government report on Tuesday  that implied costlier energy and slumping housing prices were  taking a toll on consumers.
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Holiday e-commerce sales were robust, but, with sales growth of 19 percent, showed their slowest-ever growth, industry analysts projected.
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Most Americans are planning to curb their holiday spending this year, making it a challenging shopping season for U.S. retailers, according to a holiday buying survey by The NPD Group.
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Retail sales growth in the week after Thanksgiving fell to 3.1 percent, the slowest rate in four years, as consumers delayed holiday purchases to wait for discounts.
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NEW YORK -- Holiday sales are expected to rise 5 percent this year, less than the 6.1 percent in the year-ago period, as consumers face still high energy costs, rising interest rates and a cooling housing market, the National Retail Federation said .
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Crucial US holiday sales launched with a flop, retailers reported.
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TechWeb - LAS VEGAS - U.S. video game industry sales growth is expected to slow in 2008 as accelerated demand for software is tempered by a decline in hardware revenue, the Consumer Electronics Association said Saturday.
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Prices of liquid-crystal displays are expected to fall by less than 5 percent in the fourth quarter as the industry expects a surge in demand during the holiday-shopping season, a research firm said Tuesday.
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LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The holiday mood at independent  music retailers is one of cautious optimism, despite Nielsen  SoundScan numbers showing that overall sales at U.S. indie  merchants were down 7.1% from last year as of Nov. 28.
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Women&#39;s apparel retailer Christopher &amp; Banks has posted a decline in a key December sales measure. The company reported same-store sales; those at stores open for at least a year, dropped by 7 percent for the month.
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NEW YORK - Crumbling consumer confidence and slumping home sales could prove to be a bad combination for retailers, and for the broader economy going into the holiday shopping season, if the labor market contracts further and chokes off spending, economic data showed yesterday.
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The outlook for the holiday season dimmed yesterday as several of the nation&#39;s large retailers reported disappointing sales for November, which included an uninspiring Thanksgiving weekend, The Associated Press reports.
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Jewelers like Tiffany & Co ,  Zale Corp  and Finlay Enterprises  are set to  release holiday sales data later this week -- and analysts are  expecting less-than-sparkling results.