With four days until Christmas, shoppers are expected to take advantage of the last Saturday before the big holiday.

The holiday shopping season is underway, and this year small businesses have less time to capitalize on the busy shopping period.

Gift-giving is a cornerstone of relationships. People express gifting in myriad ways, from spontaneous, smaller-scaled acts like baking treats to more elaborate signs of affection like planning a trip.

The largest retail trade group in the United States says it expects consumers to spend more during the upcoming holiday season but the growth in sales to be slower than last year due to concerns over persistent inflation and prices.

The largest U.S. retail trade group is forecasting that the country's retail sales will increase anywhere between 2.5% and 3.5% this year.

Mastercard SpendingPulse said Tuesday that holiday sales rose this year.

The National Retail Federation estimates 142 million people will hit the shops for 'Super Saturday' to pick up last-minute gifts ahead of Christmas.

The National Retail Federation has revised a report released in April that pulls back the claim that organized retail crime accounts for nearly half of overall industry shrink, which measures overall loss in inventory, including theft.

Consumers are scouring the internet for online deals as they begin to cap off the five-day post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza with Cyber Monday.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, expects shoppers will spend more this year than last year, but their spending pace will slow given all the economic uncertainty.

These are the estimates from the National Retail Federation.

Sales growth for the holiday 2022 season slowed more than expected from its blistering pace a year ago as higher borrowing costs and higher inflation made shoppers pull back, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group.

An estimated 114 million people plan to shop this year, part of the 166.3 million planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation.

With Halloween quickly approaching, there is one thing that will soon begin to pop into peoples minds: Halloween candy.

Here’s a synopsis of both the historical elements of Easter that people might not know about, and the modern financial windfall Easter is expected to be in 2022.

Americans overlooked shortages, spiking prices and uncertainty over the omicron variant to break spending records during the critical holiday shopping season.

For big companies across the country, it's now up to them to decide whether to require employees to get vaccinated.

Holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years, even as shoppers grappled with higher prices, product shortages and a raging new COVID-19 variant in the last few weeks of the season, according to one spending measure.

On this year’s Black Friday, things almost seem normal.

The National Retail Federation expects that holiday sales gain could shatter last year’s record-breaking season even as a snarled global supply chain slows the flow of goods and results in higher prices for broad range of items.

Whether it’s shortages that are driving up prices of certain items or enthusiasm for the day in general, one thing is clear: It looks like there will be a lot of money spent on Halloween this year.

Total spending for the holiday will surpass last year’s record, the National Retail Federation said.

Retail sales fell in May, dragged down by a decline in auto sales and a shift by Americans to spend more on vacations and other services instead of goods.

The January spending increase followed two straight monthly spending drops that had raised concerns that consumers, who power most of the economy, were hunkered down, too anxious to travel, shop and spend. Consumers saved a significant chunk of their income last month: The personal savings rate jumped to 20.5% from 13.4% in December. It was the highest savings rate since May of last year in the aftermath of pandemic's eruption. AdGregory Daco, chief economist at Oxford Economics, said he thinks the high savings rate, combined with pent-up consumer demand and further federal aid, will lift economic growth this year to 7%. “The combination of a healthier economy and more government stimulus should generate a strong rebound by the middle of the year.”

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Brevard County elementary school was targeted in a vague threat phoned in, officials said. According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, Lewis Carroll Elementary School received multiple voicemail messages Wednesday evening. “The individuals were quickly identified and appropriate disciplinary actions have been taken,” officials said. One of the suspects was taken home by parents to meet with deputies, while another two others were apprehended before entering the school. School officials said that at no time was the school on shelter-in-place or lock-down.

(AP Photo/John Raoux)NEW YORK – Retail sales fell for a third straight month as a surge in virus cases kept people away from stores during the critical holiday shopping season. The U.S. Commerce Department said retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in December from the month before. Department store chain Nordstrom, lingerie seller Victoria’s Secret and clothing retailer Urban Outfitters all said sales fell during the holidays. The Commerce Department said shoppers cut back on spending at electronic and department stores. At clothing stores, sales rose 2.4% after dropping 16% for the year.

Online sales rose a record 49% year-over-year between Oct. 11 and Dec. 24, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse figures, which exclude services, automotive and gasoline sales. The holiday shopping season was considered longer this year as retailers offered promotions sooner and encouraged customers to get a jump-start to avoid delivery delays. During the traditional holiday period, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, retail sales rose 2.4% year-over-year, according to Mastercard's data. Consumers also favored electronics and appliances, a category where sales rose 6%. There was some payoff, as online clothing sales rose 15.7%, according to Mastercard.

NEW YORK – The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, expects that holiday sales could actually exceed growth seen in prior seasons, despite all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. Holiday sales have averaged gains of 3.5% over the past five years. Not included in total sales figure are sales from restaurants, gas stations and auto dealers. Still, the NRF cited that the aggregate retail sales have seen a V-shaped recovery, growing both month-over-month and year-over-year each month since June. For the first ten months of this year, retail sales rose 6.4% compared with the first 10 months of 2019.

Consumer Reports finds that college students can get significant savings by taking advantage of discounts that are available. With many of the online discounts, you have to join a student discount program. The UNiDAYS service gives you discounts on online purchases atClaire's, Levi's, Urban Outfitters, and many other sites. But you'll need to pay to join the Student Advantage Discount program that offers those discounts. The Student Advantage Discount costs $22.50 for the first year.