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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