Menu

Based on the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) holiday consumer tracking survey, 15 percent or 23.1 million consumers (16 years of age or older) plan to shop on Christmas Eve (December 24).

While more than half (56%) of Americans had dutifully completed their holiday shopping by Dec. 19, nearly one in five hadn't even begun. As a result, those stragglers will be out in force on Christmas Eve, with an estimated 10 percent of consumers hitting the malls in a last-ditch attempt to beat the deadline, according to a nationally representative Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll.

Amid a surge in feelings of financial security, middle-class families are unexpectedly easing their frugal spending behaviors for the holidays.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Germany increased 0.8 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.3 percent in October.

The issues of hunger and homelessness still remain major challenges in U.S. cities according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) report on the status of Hunger and Homelessness in 27 cities in America (listed below) that was released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors on a news conference call.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia increased 0.6 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in October.

EU27 real agricultural income per worker1 has increased by 12.3% in 2010, following a decrease of 10.7% in 2009, according to first estimates issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. This increase results from a rise in real agricultural income (+9.9%), together with a fall in agricultural labour input (-2.2%). These estimates for the EU27 are based on data supplied by the national authorities in the Member States.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. increased 1.1 percent in November to 112.4 (2004=100), following a 0.4 percent increase in October, and a 0.6 percent increase in September.

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 47 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $27.46 billion has been spent online, marking a 12-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (week ending Dec. 17) reached $5.15 billion in spending, an increase of 14 percent versus the corresponding week last year, with four individual days surpassing $900 million, led by Green Monday (Monday, December 13) with $954 million and Free Shipping Day (Friday, December 17) with $942 million. Free Shipping Day achieved a 61-percent increase versus the corresponding shopping day last year, highlighting the appeal and success of the promotion in which more than 1,500 merchants offered free shipping.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for France increased 0.1 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) remained unchanged in October.