AMERICANS SPEND BIG ON BOOZE, BEEF ON JULY 4

This July 4, holiday revelers were expected to dole out $7.1 billion for food, up from $6.8 billion in 2016, the National Retail Federation forecast. Last year, Americans bought close to $804 million worth of beef in the two weeks around the holiday, according to Nielsen, which tracks consumer data. Celebrants spent more than $1 billion on beer, an estimated $568 million on wine and $800 million on fireworks in 2016, financial website WalletHub found.