Commerce Department: Holiday Sales up 5%

January 14, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on January 2007 The U.S. Department of Commerce released its final results of the holiday shopping season Friday showing a slight improvement over the 2005 season.

December sales grew nearly 5 percent from a year ago, to $332.44 billion, excluding motor vehicles, auto parts and food services, according to the report. For the past two months, sales increased 4.6 percent, to $662.5 billion, compared with the same period in 2005.

The Commerce figures are based on monthly sales results from 5,000 companies. The numbers could be revised after additional data from 12,000 businesses are reviewed in the next few weeks. December retail sales increased 0.7 percent from the month before.