Business digest

NATION

Pizza Hut markets other menu selections

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Want some wings with that pie? Pizza Hut is banking on it, with new marketing for its chicken wings, now sold in about half the chain’s 6,200 U.S. restaurants.

Pizza Hut launched national ads for the WingStreet brand on sports and prime-time TV this past Saturday.

Other pizza chains offer wings and other side items to boost customer checks, and rival Domino’s Pizza Inc. has aggressively promoted oven-baked sandwiches and pasta-stuffed bread bowls as meal options.

Retail industry predicts decline in holiday sales

NEW YORK — After parents cut back on clothes and accessories for children this past fall, the retail industry suspects they won’t be any more generous by the holidays.

The National Retail Federation, usually bullish about holiday sales, predicts a 1 percent decline in total sales to $437.6 billion for November and December combined. The projection from the world’s largest retail trade group comes amid forecasts that U.S. retailers saw a key measure of sales drop in September for the 13th consecutive month compared with a year earlier.

Associated Press