I expected the spending forecast to be more buoyant. But it could be the case that NRF is curbing their enthusiasm a little now,

Consumers still aren't in a spending mood, ... This year is going to be modestly better. The emphasis is on the word 'modest.'

This is actually a little worse than I expected, and particularly bad when viewed within the context of a year ago, which was already very weak.

Data releases for the closing months of 2005 are expected to reflect buoyant activity, especially as we tally up retailers' Christmas sales. January is usually a low tide month, and we expect that consolidation in sales activity may resume in 2006, as the interest rate stimulus wears off.

The cost of the expansion is higher than we expected, but diamond prices and demand have been buoyant, which means the project will meet returns targets.

These two companies gave a must-have lesson for all retailers, Sharper Image combed the globe for unusual and exciting products that weren't run-off-the-mill ... Retailers made the mistake of taking customers for granted and the payoff came two weeks ago in much weaker Christmas sales because of ho-hum kind of merchandise.