Posted on: Friday, December 12, 2003

Retailers report bright November

Advertiser News Services

Holiday shoppers catapulted sales at the nation's retailers higher in November, raising hopes the rest of the year will see more Santas than Scrooges.

That cheered Wall Street and helped lift the Dow past 10,000.

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that merchants' sales rose 0.9 percent last month as shoppers got into the holiday spirit. That ended two straight months of belt tightening, which caused retail sales to drop by 0.3 percent in September and be flat in October.

The increase in retail sales in November — the largest since August — represented a better showing than economists expected.They had forecast a 0.7 percent rise.

Economists, who closely track consumer spending because it accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, say the report suggests holiday sales will be strong enough to provide momentum into 2004.