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US retail sales showed solid growth over the first weekend of the holiday shopping season, reinforcing hopes that the recent spending upturn driven by tax rebates may slow less abruptly than some economists had feared. Stores and analysts said both sales and shopper numbers were up from last year, boosting hopes for a rebound in Christmas sales after a dismal performance in 2002. But they warned tha t shoppers remained cautious and bargain-conscious. The weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday, which was last Thursday, marks the traditional start of the Christmas shopping period in the US. The Friday after Thanksgiving - nicknamed Black Friday, since it was traditionally the day when retailers' red ink turned to black - sees a rush of discounts and special offers designed to entice shoppers. The question this year is whether the robust start to the season can be maintained through to Christmas. Sales fizzled out in 2002 after a strong opening weekend. Holiday shopping is being more closely scrutinised than usual as an indicator of how sustainable the economic upturn may be. Third-quarter growth in the US was the fastest for 20 years. Economists were expecting consumer spending to moderate from its frenetic third-quarter rate. But recent surveys have pointed to rising confidence among consumers in the economy and l abour market, prompting hopes this could replace tax rebates and mortgage refinancing in underpinning consumer spending. ShopperTrak, which collects data from 30,000 stores, estimated that sales on Black Friday totalled $7.2bn (?6bn, £4.2bn), up 4.8 per cent from th e equivalent Friday last year. 'It was a very pleasant surprise that demand was as strong,' said Michael Niemira, lead consultant for ShopperTrak and an analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. 'Not only are the incent ives and discounts bringing people into the stores to shop and buy, retailers also report that full-priced merchandise did well.' Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, repo
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