The American Consumer

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day when US retailers supposedly move from being 'in the red' to being 'in the black'. Chicago-based ShopperTrak tells us that Black Friday 2008 produced retail sales some 3% higher than in 2007, which in turn was 8% higher than 2006.

ShopperTrak warned that while 'Black Friday isn't always the best indicator for holiday season performance, retailers should be cautiously optimistic as deep discounts drove consumers en masse to various retail locations to spend - despite myriad economic pressures over the last two months'.

As some commentators warn, though, this unexpected rise in revenues will almost certainly have come at the expense of profits.