US retail sales rose 3.5 percent during the holiday sales season of 2013, helped by large discounts in shopping centers and consumer demand for jewelry, according to the SpendingPulse report prepared by MasterCard Advisors.
"For retailers, Christmas has turned out to be joyful," Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of MasterCard Advisors, said in an interview with Reuters. According to her information, jewelry became the most popular category of goods in the past season of shopping.
Analysts have called this season the most competitive, beginning with the economic downturn in 2008, as Americans are under pressure from unreasonable salaries, higher taxes and the effects of government closure last fall.