December’s Poor Retail Figures Shouldn’t Have Surprised Anybody
We were all expecting a bad Christmas season for U.S. retailers, and reality didn’t disappoint. Sales for the month of December were just announced this morning, and are the latest reason for the indexes to open lower this week.
In November, sales had dropped 2.1% and they slipped another 2.7% in the last month of the year. As we’ve come to expect to some degree, the news was worse than originally expected… much worse, since a majority of economists agree that retailers would only report a 1.2% decrease in activity.
There’s a big difference between the projections and the actual numbers, but those analysts have history to back up their original predictions. Michael Niemira, chief economist with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has analyzed retail sales put out by the government from 1967 onward. And based on that data, he can honestly say that “we’ve never had this long stretch of declines” before.
However, while history is often a great indicator of the future, the last few months have proven that we’re in unusual times. Unemployment is up - though it’s been worse in previous years - and even the vast majority that still do have jobs are concerned that they might soon lose theirs.
This epic of dread is producing natural results, with consumers cutting corners wherever they can. The bad news shouldn’t have taken anybody by surprise after five months of poor retail sales showed a decline in the “shop-‘till-you-drop” mentality.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 — by Jeannette Di Louie, Assistant Editor of Mt. Vernon Research
How One Company's Groundbreaking "Cancer Blaster" Could Make You Rich
While the World Health Organization predicts 12 million people will develop cancer in 2009, this little-known company is fighting the surge with its amazing cancer-killing device...
Although most people know nothing about it, this "Cancer Blaster" has already saved thousands of people around the world... Like Ohio resident, Caroline Brubaker, who says "with just three, pain-free outpatient visits, I had my life back" or Richard Swanson of Arizona who ended up cancer-free after just 4 hours of treatment...
The best part is, the company recently discovered an extraordinary breakthrough that could go mainstream in a matter of days... Read the full details to find out how you can get in ahead of the event - and be on your way to booking truly incredible gains.
|
One Response to “December’s Poor Retail Figures Shouldn’t Have Surprised Anybody”
[...] See the original article at SmartProfitsReport.com. [...]