Holiday Retail Sales Up 5.7%

Retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) for December rose 5.3 percent unadjusted year-over-year and 0.5 percent seasonally adjusted from November, according to the National Retail Federation.
As a result, preliminary sales for the November and December 2010 holiday season rose 5.7 percent to $462 billion, surpassing NRF's forecast of 3.3 percent. This