Online sales on Black Friday—a day traditionally seen as kicking off the U.S. holiday season—rose to a record $7.4 billion, while fewer people showed up at physical store locations, according to data from Adobe Analytics.
Online sales jumped more than 19 percent over last year, according to Adobe, which tracks transactions at 80 of the top 100 U.S. retailers. For Thanksgiving, Adobe estimated that sales grew almost 15 percent to $4.2 billion.
Meanwhile, for the first time in several years, store traffic on Thanksgiving evening rose 2.3 percent, when compared to last year.
Consumer confidence is also positive related to personal finances. Fifty-four percent of all households reported that their finances had recently improved, according to data from a survey by the University of Michigan. In the past 50 years, there have only been nine other surveys that recorded a higher percentage, with the largest recorded number just three percentage points higher at 57 percent.
“At the end of the day, I think voters are concerned about their own needs, their own challenges, their own opportunity in their lives,” Gaetz said. “And if you look at the Trump economy, the hottest in the world, it’s creating that opportunity for Americans each and every day.”
Last month, President Donald Trump criticized Democrats for using the impeachment probe as a political tool to distract from the good news.
Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation forecast 2019 U.S. holiday retail sales to increase 3.8 percent to 4.2 percent from a year ago, for a total of $727.9 billion to $730.7 billion. That compares to an average annual increase of 3.7 percent over the past five years.
While the U.S. economy is still growing steadily, gains have slowed since its sizzling start to the year. Strong spending by households is helping to bolster growth, economists say.
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