Early data shows holiday sales up over 5 percent

Neither the December stock market slump nor impending government shutdown seemed to dampen holiday shopping enthusiasm. American consumers managed to pony up over $850 billion from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, according to early data from Mastercard SpendingPulse. Excluding automobiles, sales grew 5.1 percent during the period, based on the survey that tracks spending in-store and online using all forms of payment.