US DATA: ICSC sales for Dec 17 wk: “As the 2011 holiday shopping
season begins to wind down, consumers finally got into the holiday
spirit and gave retailers some holiday cheer this past week as weekly
sales soared. Overall, for the week ending December 17, 2011 weekly
retail sales rose sharply by 3.4 percent, according to International
Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store
Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales also increased and
rose sharply to 4.6 percent.”