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 »