Exclusive: Many Americans already done with holiday shopping

Shop 'til you drop may not be dead, but it's certainly taken a hit in 2011. Pre-holiday credit-fueled shopping benders are being slowly replaced with layaway and less is good mentality. Society, driven largely by economic cycles, behaviors and forces few understand, is slowly changing. Ignore the talking heads and follow the money, particularly the upward bias in the U.S. dollar.

The bulls are in control as long as the Gann 1x1 line holds from the September 2011 lows.

Chart 1 U.S. Dollar Index ETF:


Flight to quality, no. Flight to liquidity, yes.

Headline: Exclusive: Many Americans already done with holiday shopping

By Dhanya Skariachan

(Reuters) - More than a third of U.S. shoppers are already done with most of their holiday shopping, a survey showed on Monday, signaling that retailers need to offer bigger incentives to win sales in the few weeks before Christmas.

The findings underscore the fragility of the U.S. recovery, since consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the nation's economy.

About 32 percent of people surveyed by America's Research Group said they finished a majority of their Christmas shopping in November. Last month included Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores pulled out all the stops on discounts to woo shoppers during their biggest season of the year.

More than 6 percent completed most of their holiday shopping in the first weekend of December.

The questions were asked exclusively for Reuters as part of a larger America's Research Group survey.

"There is very little retailers can do unless they really have some incredible sales that force that consumer to reconsider if they want ... to make an extra purchase now," said America's Research Group President Britt Beemer.

Source: finance.yahoo.com