WASHINGTON — Americans spent more on autos, furniture and clothing at the start of the crucial holiday shopping season, boosting retail sales for a sixth straight month. Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in November, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That’s ...

Tagged with: appliances automobiles commerce department consumer spending electronics employers furniture hiring holiday shopping merchants Retail retail sales

NEW YORK — Retail sales for the four-day holiday weekend, starting with Thanksgiving Day, rose 8.7 percent from a year earlier, a key data service said Thursday. The figures from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse show the holiday shopping season got off ...

Tagged with: clothing consumers cyber monday discounts electronics macy's Retail sales shopping spending target thanksgiving toys

WASHINGTON — U.S. industrial production rose in October at the fastest rate in three months. Factories made more trucks, electronics and business equipment, a sign that manufacturing is recovering after slowing this spring. Output at the nation’s factories, utilities and ...

Tagged with: electronics factories factory output federal reserve industrial production institute for supply management Manufacturing october trucks utilities

WASHINGTON — Consumers are giving a modest lift to the economy. They spent more on autos, electronics and building supplies in October to boost retail sales for the fifth straight month. The gains provide an encouraging start for the October-December ...

Tagged with: autos commerce department consumer spending consumers department stores electronics growth hiring jobs national retail federation producer price index Retail sales Unemployment

LONDON — Carphone Warehouse Group PLC is closing its 11 Best Buy “big box” electronics stores, launched in April last year, as part of a reorganization of its relationship with the U.S.-based company. The stores competed in a tough market ...

Tagged with: best buy canada electronics internet Retail UK

NEW YORK — BlackBerry users across the world were exasperated Wednesday as an outage of email, messaging and Internet services on the phones spread to the U.S. and Canada and stretched into the third day for Europe, Asia, Latin America ...

Tagged with: blackberry consumers electronics iPhone north america outage phones service

NEW YORK — It looks like retailers will have to work extra hard to keep this holiday season from turning into a bah humbug. A new forecast indicates that sales growth will likely not be as high as last year ...

Tagged with: appliances Christmas Economy electronics goods holidays national retail federation Retail retailers sales shoppers

MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy Co. said Tuesday its fiscal second-quarter net income fell 30 percent as consumers hit the pause button on buying electronics, particularly TVs and smart phones, while fears about the global economy persist. Results missed expectations and ...

Tagged with: appliances best buy consumer spending electronics holiday season net income sales smartphone stores tablet computers TV video games

TOKYO — Sony Corp. is expecting an annual loss of $3.2 billion, reversing its earlier projection of a return to profit, as the electronics giant struggles with production disruptions from Japan’s tsunami. The Japanese maker of PlayStation 3 video game ...

Tagged with: electronics japan profit sony tokyo

NEW YORK — Best Buy plans to open hundreds of smaller mobile stores and expand online and in China in an effort to be more competitive as consumers increasingly shop online. The largest U.S. electronics retailer plans to shrink square ...

Tagged with: best buy China circuit city electronics mobile online Retail revenue