Shares in US retailers enjoyed a bounce on the first day of trading after Christmas on rising hopes of a strong holiday shopping season, but fading expectations over sales of Apple’s new iPhone weighed on the broader stock market.
A host of traditional retailers and department store chains topped the table of the biggest stock market climbers on Tuesday, helping the S&P 500 retailing industry index gain 0.2 per cent and achieve a record high by midday in New York.
US retail sales, excluding automobiles, climbed 4.9 per cent between November 1 and Christmas Eve, the strongest pace of growth since 2011, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, a unit of the credit card company that tracks internet and physical sales.