[size=5]The National Retail Federation reports U.S. retail holiday sales increased 5.5% Y/Y to $692B to top by a wide margin the forecast for a 3.6% to 4.0% gain.
Online and other nonstore sales were up 11.5% to $138.4B to account for 20% of the tally.[/size]
Holiday sales by category (Y/Y): Building materials and supplies stores +8.1%, furniture and home furnishings stores +7.5%, electronics/appliance stores +6.7%, general merchandise stores +4.3%, clothing and accessories stores +2.7%, health and personal care stores +2.2%, sporting goods stores -0.5%.
Restaurants, automobile dealers and gasoline stations weren’t included in the total referenced by the NRF.