Investing and Global Finance News

The Promise of Black Friday

As Thanksgiving 2010 approaches, investors have their eye on Black Friday. This is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season which aims to identify a level of retail volume that will indicate a market upswing.

This year’s Black Friday, so-called because stores usually make sufficient sales on that day to get their accounts “into the black,” will be marked by a range of sale opportunities, as retail institutions seek to attract significant portions of the country’s bargain hunters.  Major retailers are hoping that this holiday season will show a major increase over last year’s sales. Target, for example, which is offering a 5% discount to users of its store credit card, is predicting a 2.8% gain over the same quarter in 2009, while Macy’s is predicting a holiday sale increase of 3 to 4%.

The National Retail Federation has more modest expectations. Its annual Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey indicates a predicted holiday shopping growth of 1%, with an average shopping bill of $688.87 per person.

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