Holiday shopping could still go over the cliff
Consumer-confidence numbers also have steadily risen, hitting highs not seen since early 2008. Doesn’t that mean more gifts under the nation’s Christmas trees and a jolly holiday for retailers?
Not necessarily, economists say.
The relationship between Black Friday, consumer confidence, and holiday spending is shaky—and concerns about the fiscal cliff could still mar this shopping season.
“What happens in Washington regarding the fiscal cliff has the potential to alter holiday spending, even at this late date,” said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody’s Analytics. …
But don’t take too much stock in these numbers, says Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at macroeconomic research firm Capital Economics. For one, they aren’t official, government-issued numbers at the national level—they’re anecdotal. …
“If you think about this conceptually, people that spend more at Black Friday, does that mean they’ll then spend more through the rest of the holiday season, or does it mean because they spent money on Black Friday, they’ve bought all their holiday gifts and they don’t need to spend money?” Ashworth asks.
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Are you talking about the low-information, give me freebies freeloaders who voted Obama in again? Don’t be silly. They’ve never heard of a fiscal cliff. And that’s for their kids to suck up.
John the Libertarian on November 30, 2012 at 9:34 PM
Shoot .. We use Black Friday and CyberMonday deals to stock up on office supplies and equipment (small bizz owner).
Looks like Christmas might amount to cards with cash in ‘em, and not much of that, either.
Maybe there’ll be a good Jan ??
pambi on November 30, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Was at a Best Buy tonight at 7pm… a Friday… with only 3 more weeks left til Christmas…
Dead.
The mall nearby, one of the biggest in the city, had off duty police doing the usual traffic routing in the parking lot for holiday season… for about 3 cars at a time… No backups, no wall to wall cars, ample parking space.
yeah… the economy’s doin’ grrrrrreat!
Skywise on December 1, 2012 at 1:10 AM
No gifts for our whole extended family this year. Nobody felt like doing it. Just some stockings with gag gifts and a good dinner together.
trigon on December 1, 2012 at 1:21 AM
Ill take that option Alex. Money is tight. People ran and got stuff very cheap this time around. Next best time to shop is on the 26th of December.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 5:04 AM
How many of these ‘confident’ shoppers are maxing out their credit cards?
I wonder.
Badger40 on December 1, 2012 at 7:26 AM
No shopping till the Mayan deadline is over.
tommy71 on December 1, 2012 at 8:55 AM