In the chart below, the blue bar is Toys 'R' Us retail sales for 2011. Red is 2012. Hence our confusion: just which is this "blockbuster" retail season CNBC's Bob Pisani keeps referring to - the blue or the red?
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Oh, and yes, the reason for the collapse in peak Holiday shopping demand, both in the US and around the world, at least according to the company that has been waiting to go public for nearly three years: "December sales were impacted by softness in the overall markets for videogames, electronics and toys, and by the uncertain economic environment in the United States and abroad." That's right: "softness for toys."
Too bad there was no hurricane in December, and that there is no way anyone could blame Bush for anything after Obama won his reelection in November.
But at least, it's always something.