U.S. Retail Sales
Holiday Retail Sales Weakness
U.S. retail sales increased 3.1% year-over-year during the holiday season due to retail promotions and an increase in online and restaurant spending, according to a preliminary report from Mastercard—failing to meet expectations of a 3.7% growth this holiday. Online spending increased by 6.3% year-over-year compared to in-store spending at 2.2%, pointing to a faster growth rate for online shopping, though in-store shopping still made up a larger portion of total retail sales, Mastercard said in its SpendingPulse survey, which tracks non-automotive purchases from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24.








