Economy, Storms, Slow Retail Sales

New York, NY, Dec. 26, 2008--A weak economy and strong winter storms in some areas brought total retail sales down between 5.5 percent and 8 percent from a year ago, according to preliminary data from SpendingPulse.

Many economists have predicted this would be the worst holiday season in decades as home prices plunged, unemployment rose and nervous consumers cut costs. Compounding retailers' problems were unexpected winter storms that snowed-in would-be shoppers everywhere from Seattle to Las Vegas to Boston.

When gas and auto sales are excluded from the holiday period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, overall sales were down somewhere between 2 percent and 4 percent, according to SpendingPulse, a division of MasterCard Advisors that tracks total sales paid for by credit card, checks and cash.