IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Retail sales were up 2.9 percent year-over-year for the week that ended Saturday, the first weekend after Black Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season.
Compared with the previous week, sales were down 1.5 percent, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index, which was released Tuesday.
Those are less-than-spectacular numbers for the first days of holiday shopping, but they might be better than they appear at first glance, said Jordan Levine, director of economic research for Beacon Economics in Los Angeles.
“It does seem a little low, but it’s a 2.9 percent increase on top of some already solid spending numbers,” Levine said. “We’re getting back to the peak spending levels we were at before the recession, which is why I think we’re looking at a pretty decent holiday season.’
The 2.9 percent spending increase is on pace with recent growth in other economic sectors, Levine said.
