Expecting A Weak Holiday Season

Everybody has been talking about how this is going to be a great Christmas shopping season because the recovery is finally here, well, I have been saying for months that I expect a weak holiday season and for now it appears that my hunch is going to prove correct. Because the figures are out for the 4-day holiday weekend. This is traditionally the Thanksgiving weekend that kicks off the Christmas season.

This holiday weekend shoppers had more hours in which to shop than in prior holiday weekends because of the hours that the stores were open on Thanksgiving day. Yet, despite that and despite the big drop in gas prices, instead it was a disaster. Traffic at the malls or at the stores was down over 5 percent. So, 5 percent fewer people showed up to shop over the 4-day weekend. But even worse, the shoppers that showed up did not shop as much because they spent 11 percent less than they spent in 2013.

Related stocks: Apple (AAPL), GoPro (GPRO), J C Penney (JCP), Sears (SHLD), Target (TGT), Macy`s (M)

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.