Holiday Sales Disappoint

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The exact numbers aren’t in yet, but it appears that the holiday season is shaping up to be a disappointment.


MasterCard Advisors, a unit of Purchase, New York-based Mastercard Inc., pegged the year-over-year sales increase at just 3 percent. ShopperTrak RCT, a Chicago retail consultancy, has put it at a higher 4.3 percent. And the National Retail Federation, a trade group based in Washington, D.C., is expecting a still higher 5 percent growth for November and December.


But the bottom line for all these reports: the increase will be off from last year. And the culprits are not surprising: a weakened housing market and higher energy costs, which have combined to put a dent in discretionary income.


The letdown comes despite reports of strong sales in the luxury retail and electronics sector. The latter was boosted by big screen televisions, Nintendo’s Wii game console and digital cameras priced under $300.


Shares of retailers were off on the news, with the S & P; Retailing Index down 1 percent in early trading Tuesday.