Economy, Holiday Shopping Season | featured news

Target Corp posted lower quarterly profit on Wednesday, as sales of food and value-priced items only partially mitigated some weakness it saw when holiday shoppers held back from discretionary spending in an uncertain economy.

A last-minute surge in spending helped many major retailers report better-than-expected sales in December, a relief for stores that make up to 40 percent of annual revenue during the holiday period.

U.S. holiday retail sales this year are the weakest since 2008, after a shopping season disrupted by storms and rising uncertainty among consumers.

Americans spent more online in November to start the holiday season and began to replace cars and rebuild in the Northeast after Superstorm Sandy.

The final weeks of 2011 were the economy's strongest since it appeared to be slipping toward recession in late spring.

Millions of Americans jammed stores Friday, supporting analysts' prediction that Black Friday sales would be better than last year's despite the down economy.

Though December was weaker than expected, the overall holiday season was still relatively strong, analysts said.

Retail sales were solidly higher in November, the government reported Tuesday, fueled in part by deep discounting on holiday merchandise.

U.S. online retail sales through the first 40 days of the 2010 holiday shopping season are up 12% from a year ago, according to a Sunday update from ComScore.

The results released reinforced reports over the weekend that consumers shopped, spent and were buying non-necessities again.