With America at work, online sales hit record levels this year despite Thanksgiving being later than usual. The shopping season was 6 days less than last year because of the November 28 Thanksgiving Day – traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season in the US.

Nevertheless, according to MasterCard e-commerce sales – which make up 14.6% of total retail sales – rose 18.8% versus 2018.  Overall holiday sales, excluding autos rose 3.4%. The sales data was tracked from November 1 through Christmas Eve. Even Donald Trump tweeted about the numbers. When the global economy is weakening, as well as the US economy and the trade war is still going, despite the Phase One deal, everything counts. Although, we have seen some green shoots form the US economic data recently.