December 4, 2008; News 12 This Morning

Christmas is now exactly three weeks away, and though your tree may be all lit up, the outlook isn't so bright for retailers.

Thursday afternoon, retailers will report their November numbers, and lots of people are very nervous about what this report card is going to show.

Remember, this financial forecast includes Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is supposed to give everybody a big boost, but experts say it wasn't enough.

Researchers with Thomson Reuters are guessing the new numbers will show a 2.4% decline. If the figures come in as expected, the decline would mark the worst since the agency started keeping records in 2000. They believe the problem lies in the time leading up to Black Friday and the few days after. Experts admit the morning deals the day after Thanksgiving brought out big crowds, but later in the day, when the deals declined, so did the shoppers.

So what does this mean to you?

Well, look for retailers to slash prices even more to cut their losses.
The deals will be out there, so you can certainly get more for less this holiday season.