Strong Holiday Sales Help Stock Market

U.S. retail sales rose an estimated 3.6 percent this holiday season as online gift-buying, last- minute spending and an extra shopping day spurred a recovery from last year, the worst in four decades.

A jump in purchases the week before Christmas helped year- over-year electronics sales increase 5.9 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse said in a statement. Jewelry and luxury sales also gained, the research firm said.

The increase may signal that revenue at retailers will beat trade groups’ forecasts for the two-month period ending Jan. 2. Shoppers resumed purchasing this season as consumer confidence rebounded from a record low in February.

“We saw a nice little surge toward the end of the season,” with the pace picking up Dec. 22, 23 and 24, said Michael McNamara, a vice president for research and analysis at SpendingPulse, in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “Last year, we were in critical condition, this year, in stable.”

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