Fred Business News - Wal-Mart Stores said Saturday that its sales for the crucial holiday period will probably grow by 1.6 percent, a stronger than expected result for the nation's leading retailer.

The company originally forecast that sales at stores open for more than a year, an important industry barometer called same-store sales, would grow at most by 1 percent.

Retail winners and losers

The Saturday announcement is a needed dose of good news for the retailer and the retail sector at large.

Despite Wal-Mart's early holiday ...   more »

Fred Business News - The nation's financial markets will be closed Tuesday to honor former President Gerald Ford, marking a rare four-day closing for U.S. trading.

The New York Stock Exchange said Friday it will be closed on Jan. 2 for the national day of mourning for the 38th president, a day after the Nasdaq stock market said it also will be closed.

Over the last century, the markets have traditionally closed to commemorate the death of a past or sitting president.

Ford, who became the first ...   more »

Fred Business News - Microsoft Corp. is making a global push to sell targeted online advertisements using data gathered from users of its Hotmail e-mail service, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is aiming to grab a bigger slice of the online advertising market for its msn.com news page and other Microsoft-owned sites. It currently lags behind Google and Yahoo.

The company has begun combining personal data from the 263 million users of its free Hotmail ...   more »

Fred Business News - A last-minute buying binge may have delivered a stellar final weekend of holiday sales but total retail sales gains for the 2006 holiday shopping period still fell short versus last year.

According to SpendingPulse, the retail data service provider for MasterCard Advisors, retail sales from the day after Thanksgiving through Dec. 24, excluding automobiles, grew about 6.6 percent this year -- softer than last year's 8.7 percent increase.

But the season's not over yet and analysts expect stores will slash prices in post-Christmas "clearance" ...   more »

Fred Business News - U.S. retailers have released a flood of advertisements this week urging consumers to spend their gift cards quickly, so that the companies issuing them can write off the income as 2006 revenue and pocket the last few shopping dollars of the season.

"If [retailers] don't get [consumers] to cash gift cards this week they won't be able to count it as December revenue," BigResearch Vice President Philip Rist said in an interview. "It is a challenge for them."

An estimated $24.8 billion will be ...   more »

Fred Business News - The popularity of DVD players has surpassed VCRs in U.S. homes, according to a survey released by Nielsen Media Research.

The research company's third-quarter technology report said 81 percent of U.S. households own a DVD player, while 79 percent own VCRs.

"This study shows the culmination of a long battle for share of consumers," said Paul Lindstrom, senior vice president of custom research for Nielsen Media Research. "We now see that the popularity of DVDs has finally surpassed that of VCRs."

DVD ownership ...   more »

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