holiday shopping

Credit card defaults on store-branded accounts hit near record levels during the holiday shopping season and the trend is likely to continue this year, Fitch Ratings analysts said Thursday.
Fitch's report shows that more than one in every eight dollars of receivables was written off as uncollectable during the November collection period on an annualized basis.

Japan's Sony Corp is enjoying robust demand for its PlayStation 3 game console and other electronic products so far in this holiday shopping season in the key U.S. market.
"We saw a very positive sales increase for televisions, computers and PS3 in particular. I don't think there were any negatives, but we need a little more time to find out how big it was," Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer said.

 Lightspeed Research, an online marketing company, released a study that shows 64% of Americans think it's annoying or crazy that stores have Christmas decorations up before Halloween.