Retail group: Holiday sales up slower-than-expected 5.3%

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Sales growth for the holiday 2022 season slowed more than expected from its blistering pace a year ago as higher borrowing costs and higher inflation made shoppers pull back, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group. The National Retail Federation said Wednesday that holiday sales for the combined November and December period rose 5.3% to $936.3 billion. That was a slower pace than the 13.5% increase a year earlier when shoppers began spending the money they had saved during the early part of the pandemic. The growth was also below the trade group’s forecast for sales to be up anywhere from 6% to 8%.