HOLIDAY SALES MAY HAVE JUMPED 4.9%

Holiday shoppers abandoned their early reluctance and boosted spending as the season wore on, pushing U.S. sales to the biggest increase in more than a decade, according to research firm Customer Growth Partners.

On Tuesday, the firm raised its holiday sales estimate to a 4.9 percent gain over last year to $637 billion. That would be the biggest increase since 2005. Customer Growth had previously predicted a 4.1 percent advance.

Online sales grew an estimated 15 percent, up more than a percentage point from the firm’s previous forecast. Bloomberg News