U.S. Retail Sales Rise 2.3% During Christmas Week

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http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-29/u-s-retail-sales-rise-2-3-during-christmas-week-update2-.html

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. retail sales climbed 2.3 percent during Christmas week even after a snowstorm on the East Coast hampered sales at the start of the period.

The gain for the week ended Dec. 26 means sales at stores open at least a year will still rise about 2 percent this month, the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said today in an e-mailed statement.

Consumers packed more shopping into the final days before Christmas after the “super-sized” storm on Dec. 19 and 20, said Michael Niemira, chief economist of the New York-based ICSC. Sales this holiday season may have rebounded from 2008’s results, which were the worst since ICSC started measuring four decades ago.

“We have definitely turned the corner,” Niemira said today in a telephone interview. “We are in a retail recovery, but it’s not by any means going to be a smooth sailing.”

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