Holiday discounts crimp stores’ profits

Holiday discounts crimp stores’ profits

NEW YORK

The 2011 holiday shopping season will go down in the record books as the year the Grinch stole stores’ profits.

Many retailers sacrificed their bottom lines by pushing heavy discounts to shoppers bent on getting a good deal in a challenging economy. That created a sharp divide between stores that won the battle for wallets and those that didn’t.

The big winners? Shoppers who held out for deals late in the season.

Retailers collectively reported a 3.5 percent increase in revenue at stores open at least a year for December, according to a tally of 25 merchants compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers. For November and December combined, the figure rose 3.3 percent, a solid increase but still behind last year’s 3.8 percent pace.

Oil prices drop

NEW YORK

Oil and natural-gas prices dropped Thursday after the government said the U.S. ended 2011 with little need for more fuel.

Government petroleum data continue to be at odds with jobs, consumer spending and other economic data that point to a strengthening economy. Though there are fewer layoffs and shoppers may have spent more over the holidays, the nation’s consumption of energy has been moderate at best.

For one thing, Americans are driving more fuel- efficient cars, but that doesn’t explain why demand is so low, analysts said. As of Dec. 30, oil demand in the U.S. fell by 7 percent from the same time last year. Gasoline demand fell by 5 percent. And demand for oils used to make asphalt, kerosene and other miscellaneous petroleum products declined by 26 percent.

Boeing deliveries up 10 percent

NEW YORK

Boeing’s commercial aircraft deliveries rose 10 percent in the last three months of 2011, the company said Thursday, driven by widespread growth among its models and two deliveries of the highly anticipated 787.

The Chicago company delivered 128 commercial airplanes in the fourth quarter, compared with 116 in the same period a year earlier. In the third quarter, it delivered 127 commercial planes, including its first 787 to Japanese airline All Nippon Airways.

Fourth-quarter results included two deliveries of the 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner. They also included nine deliveries of the 747, none of which was delivered in last year’s fourth quarter; six 767 deliveries, up from three a year ago; and 20 777s, compared with 18 deliveries a year earlier.

The biggest chunk of the fourth-quarter tally was 91 deliveries of its 737 model, down slightly from 95 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Boeing has announced plans to build a new version of this best-selling model with a new engine, which it calls the 737 max.

For all of 2011, Boeing said deliveries rose 3 percent to 477 from 462 the year before. Total orders for Boeing commercial aircraft surged 52 percent to 805 last year, after 116 cancellations. Customers ordered 530 Boeing aircraft in 2010.

Associated Press