Just as we warned, based on credit card data, this holiday spending period is a disaster. Following disappointing sales over the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend, there has been absolutely no follow-through momentum as is usually seen. Chain Store same-store-sales crashed 6.3% week-over-week...

This should not be a surprise with a mere 1.7% YoY gain that fits with credit card data...

Well, if this year the annual comps are solidly negative then applying the same delta, it would mean that the "seasonally adjusted" retail sales data will be about 1.2%, a 70% drop from last year. Not sure how one can spin that.

As Stone McCarthy details,

The Retail Economist-Goldman Sachs Chain Store Sales Index was down 6.3% week-over-week for the period ending December 5.

It appears that shoppers were sated after the hefty promotions offered in the prior week associated with Black Friday. There may also have been a drop off in brick-and-motor shopping activity while many on-line retailers were offering deals for Cyber Monday.