Baum: Mall Rats Can’t Bring About the Wealth of Nations

The spectacle of hordes of shoppers schlepping through the mall at midnight with children in tow, stuffing their carts after stuffing their bellies, was a sight to behold. And apparently one to cheer.

U.S. stocks soared on Monday following reports of a bang-up start to the holiday shopping season. Black Friday sales rose 6.6 percent from last year to a record $11.4 billion while “retail foot traffic” -- now there’s a metric you can take to the bank -- rose 5.1 percent, according to ShopperTrak, a Chicago research firm.

The National Retail Federation said U.S. shoppers spent a record $52.4 billion during Thanksgiving weekend in stores and online, a 16 percent increase over last year. Online sales soared 33 percent on “Cyber Monday,” according to IBM. The market-research firm comScore Inc. said it was the single- biggest online-shopping day in U.S. history.     Read More