No such thing as clear analysis of the season's holiday shopping sales results as companies spin, spin, spin. But one thing seems obvious to me. The rich are richer and the poor poorer:
Coach was a clear holiday winner, as the luxury goods maker said Monday that its holiday sales grew 25 percent, or 2 percent better than it projected. Merrill Lynch analyst Daniel Barry told clients in a note Monday that the pre-Christmas sales surge benefited luxury the most, while UBS said Tuesday that it expects "strong relative peer performance" from luxury retailers Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. At the other end of the price spectrum, discount giant Wal-Mart Stores said December same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least a year, are tracking at the midpoint of its 1 percent to 3 percent increase.Concern over the Bentonville, Ark.-based dismal November sales and the effect of higher gas prices on its customers' discretionary spending had cast doubt on its holiday sales prospects.
