CNN Money reports, "Cyber Monday sales rose 14% this year compared to 2008 and consumers also bought nearly 30% more items per order versus last year, according to research firm Coremetrics. Also, the firm said shoppers bought 10% more items per order online than they did in stores on Black Friday." It's suspected that sales could be $900 million. However, one analyst told Bloomberg News it doesn't mean the retail sector is going to have a happy holiday, "Online retail sales are still the vast minority of total holiday sales. Being such a small number, the results aren’t going to change overall sales this holiday at all." more ›

The National Retail Federation says that Black Friday weekend sales grew slightly, 0.5% over last year, because shoppers were snatching up bargains. The NRF, which expects holiday spending to fall 1% this year, said, "While retailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shopped over Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas. Shoppers can continue to expect retailers to focus on low prices and bargains through the end of December." more ›

After five days of gains, the stock market is looking at a lower open today. CNBC reports, "The major indexes indicated drops approaching 2 percent." Joseph Poon, head of Mcquarie Private Wealth Asia, referred to data from the retail industry, "The market is really spooked I'm afraid. We just have to see some stability… the US consumer is usually the guy that's going to pull us back." While sales were up on Black Friday, both in person and online, there were deep discounts that cut into profitability. The National Retail Federation said, "We take all of this into context and realize Black Friday is not going to save the holiday season. Regardless of retail sales, retail profits are another matter. Everything they sold was at a razor-thin margin." And today happens to be Cyber Monday, the unofficial start of the online holiday shopping season. more ›