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CNN Live At Daybreak
Time's Ticking: Americans Wait Until Last Minute for Holiday Sales
Aired December 22, 2003 - 06:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little 'Business Buzz.' If you are like most Americans, your holiday shopping still isn't done. And with three days until Christmas, you are not the only one that is nervous. Retailers are a little nervous as well.
Let's go to Carrie Lee. She is in New York joining us from the Nasdaq market site.
Hi -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Catherine.
Well this past weekend obviously a very big one for retailers. Just how big? We will find out a little bit later on today when they start to give their numbers, tallying up their sales for the last couple of days.
So far, this holiday shopping season has not been that robust. Analysts had initially been expecting a gain of about 5 to 7 percent over last year in terms of holiday sales. But lately, they have been ratcheting down those figures, blaming bad weather in the beginning of the month. Now we have the heightened terror alerts to see if that's affected things. And a lot of people, this is what retailers are saying anyway, are waiting until the last minute. Waiting, perhaps, for those last-minute discounts.
Now even if we do see a buying surge over the next couple of days and over the past few days, a survey from Ernst & Young reports that prices for some things have come down. For example, toys. Prices for toys down 4 percent over last year. Things like consumer electronics down 1.6 percent. So retailers may have to work extra hard to make up that difference, anyway, so we'll be watching the retailers as a group today and finding out more as the day goes on -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Carrie, thank you. That's Carrie Lee.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Holiday Sales>
Aired December 22, 2003 - 06:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little 'Business Buzz.' If you are like most Americans, your holiday shopping still isn't done. And with three days until Christmas, you are not the only one that is nervous. Retailers are a little nervous as well.
Let's go to Carrie Lee. She is in New York joining us from the Nasdaq market site.
Hi -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Catherine.
Well this past weekend obviously a very big one for retailers. Just how big? We will find out a little bit later on today when they start to give their numbers, tallying up their sales for the last couple of days.
So far, this holiday shopping season has not been that robust. Analysts had initially been expecting a gain of about 5 to 7 percent over last year in terms of holiday sales. But lately, they have been ratcheting down those figures, blaming bad weather in the beginning of the month. Now we have the heightened terror alerts to see if that's affected things. And a lot of people, this is what retailers are saying anyway, are waiting until the last minute. Waiting, perhaps, for those last-minute discounts.
Now even if we do see a buying surge over the next couple of days and over the past few days, a survey from Ernst & Young reports that prices for some things have come down. For example, toys. Prices for toys down 4 percent over last year. Things like consumer electronics down 1.6 percent. So retailers may have to work extra hard to make up that difference, anyway, so we'll be watching the retailers as a group today and finding out more as the day goes on -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Carrie, thank you. That's Carrie Lee.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Holiday Sales>
