via Kim Bhasin, Business Insider
U.S. holiday sales growth was just 0.7 percent this year, missing expectations, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse.
There was a drop in consumer confidence and it was primarily due to the media, said SpendingPulse.
SpendingPulse VP Michael McNamara said that it’s the media coverage of the fiscal cliff — that is, not the fiscal cliff itself — that’s killing consumer confidence and spending.
Here’s what McNamara told Cotten Timberlake at Bloomberg:
“You are looking at modest to marginal growth from a year ago … Weather events and the fiscal debate both anchored the season in terms of growth.
The media coverage, which did a good job of explaining the negative consequences of the fiscal cliff, created this negative trend in consumer confidence and spending.”
Filed under: ECONOMY, MEDIA, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY, THE ISSUES Tagged: Connecticut, Consumer confidence, Consumerism, Fiscal Cliff, Holidays, Hurricane Sandy, MasterCard, Media, Michael McNamara, Negative Trend, Newtown, Sales, Shopping, SpendingPulse
