Thanksgiving is More Expensive Than Ever
Merrill Lynch has just published its annual “Thanksgiving Index” which uses the typical holiday foods and travel expenses to judge how the price of the holiday has increased or decreased relative to the previous year. The index takes items like turkey, potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pies, gasoline, hotels, and airline tickets and uses them to judge the holiday economy. With Friday being ‘Black Friday’, which signals the beginning of the shopping season, and with the markets in total disarray over the past month, the index this year tells us that this Thanksgiving costs 7.9% more than the previous. Last year, the index actually dropped 4.4% over 2005.
Black Friday got its name from businesses finally getting ‘into the black’ on their ledgers with a day of huge sales. This year, with the price of the holiday basics cutting into people’s bank accounts and with the level of market insecurity that we’ve seen recently, the holiday season could be a less than festive one for merchants and businesses.
Although spending could be down over the season, the real result will be delayed a few months until the earnings reports come out after the quarter. Links to the articles on the index can be found here and here.
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