A big Black Friday, despite housing slump
Economists predict mediocre-to-poor sales growth this holiday season, in part because shoppers have already tapped their home equity and are now being buffeted by the effects of the housing slump -- but that didn't stop them yesterday, the traditional kickoff to holiday shopping. The AP reports:
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent to 5 percent.
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