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Earlier we just got confirmation out of Best Buy that one can not, as expected, offset negative margins with near-infinite volume (as the stock tumbles). Now we get advance retail sales proving that all speculation about a record Black Friday was just that. Oh, and a lie. In short - everything missed. Advance retails sales in November (including Thanksgiving) came at 0.2%, on expectations of 0.6%, and down from a revised 0.6%. Retail sales less autos was 0.2%, half of the expected 0.4%, while ex Auto and Gas also printed at 0.2%, also missing big. So... where did all...

Submitted by National Shooting Sports Foundation on Dec 1, 2011 Data derived from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that November 25, 2011, Black Friday, Data derived from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that November 25, 2011, Black Friday, had the most background checks for firearm purchases in a single day (129,166) with a 32 percent increase over the previous NICS high (November 28, 2008). Federal law requires FBI background checks on all individuals purchasing firearms from federally licensed retailers. These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through...

Congress steps into states' scuffle over sales taxBy Lisa Lambert | Reuters – Wed, Nov 30, 2011 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After the frenzy of "Cyber Monday," members of Congress on Wednesday entered into a different scuffle over web shopping: states' desire to collect sales taxes from Internet retailers. "Main street retailers -- local mom and pop stores in many instances, and even some of the big box retailers -- suffer when they have to collect the sales tax but on-line retailers don't," said Michigan's Rep. John Conyers at a hearing. "Fewer purchases at local retailers means less local jobs." Conyers...

The October 2011 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 945,088 is an increase of 10.6 percent over the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 854,563 in October 2010. For comparison, the unadjusted October 2011 NICS figure of 1,331,836 reflects a 2.1 percent decrease from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,359,894 in October 2010. This marks the seventeenth straight month that NSSF-adjusted NICS figures have increased when compared to the same period the previous year. The adjusted NICS data were derived by NSSF by subtracting out all NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky,...

Sales of new single-family U.S. homes rose by 5.7% in September as prices fell to the lowest level in nearly a year...New home sales climbed to an annual pace of 313,000 in September from August's slightly revised level of 296,000...

Tax Reform: His campaign flagging, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is about to unveil what he hopes will be a game-changer: a flat tax. Whether it works for him or not, we're glad to see this bold idea part of the mix. We like Herman Cain a lot. But his 9-9-9 tax plan, not so much. Perry, no doubt trying to recoup some of his lost support, will unveil a flat tax proposal on Tuesday as a counter-salvo to Cain's popular idea. Count us among the intrigued. Sure, as the cliche goes, the devil is in the details. We don't...

Sales of existing homes fell 3% in September...The National Association of Realtors said sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million, pretty much in line with the 4.9 million consensus. August data were revised higher to 5.06 million from an initially reported 5.03 million... ...The cancellation rate was still high as 18% of real-estate agents reported at least one...Tougher conforming jumbo loan limit rules went into effect in October, and a separate NAR survey of about 1,300 agents in areas that experienced lower loan limits showed that 16% of buyers dropped out of the home buying process....

...Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1% last month, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected an increase of 0.8%... Excluding the auto sector, sales rose 0.6%, but that was still higher than market expectations of a 0.4% increase...

...The National Federation of Independent Business small-business optimism index rose 0.8 points to 88.9...

The pending sales index of existing U.S. homes fell 1.2% to 88.6 in August...

Despite increases in gun sales, gun crimes continued to decrease in the United States for the fourth straight year in 2010, according to the FBI. The FBI recently released its Crime in The United States statistics for 2010. Overall, murders in the U.S. have decreased steadily since 2006, dropping from 15,087 to 12,996. Firearms murders — which made up 67 percent of all murders in the U.S. in 2010 — have followed this trend, decreasing by 14 percent. At the same time that firearms murders were dropping, gun sales were surging. In 2009, FBI background checks for guns increased by...

RENO, NV - The U.S. Mint has temporary suspended the sale of several silver collector coins and sets including the uncirculated American Silver Eagles and the American the Beautiful Five Ounce silver coins. Plummeting silver prices prompted the Mint to initiate several product suspensions on Monday.

Sales dropped 2.3% last month to an annual rate of 295,000, the lowest level since February, the Commerce Department said Monday. After peaking in 2011 at 316,000 in April, new-home sales have gradually declined... The average sales price of a new home, meanwhile, sank 8.7% to $246,000, the lowest level since January 2009.

Retail sales were steady in August, as consumers spent more on essentials at gas stations and grocery stores, but less on cars, according to government data released Wednesday... Excluding the volatile auto segment, sales rose 0.1%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected an increase of 0.3% for the overall number, as well as for the data excluding autos.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- An index of pending home sales fell 1.3% in July, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday.

When it comes to avoiding the requirement of collecting sales tax from its consumers, Amazon is not afraid to open its wallet. More than nine months before a proposed June 2012 referendum asking that California’s new Internet sales tax law be overturned, Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer, has already spent $5.25 million, state records show, more than any company has spent in California this far from a vote in at least a decade. “The initiative and referendum process have been hijacked,” said Loni Hancock, a state senator from Berkeley, who wrote the law Amazon is trying to overturn and who...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. sales of new homes declined in July for the third straight month, a sign of continued woes in the housing market. Sales fell 0.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 298,000, the slowest pace since February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Sales had reached 316,000 in April before slipping. The drop was a surprise to analysts. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for a 1% gain in home sales to a 315,000 rate.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales of existing homes fell 3.5% in July to an eight-month low, with a high cancellation rate again taking its toll on an already troubled market, according to data released Thursday. The National Association of Realtors said sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.67 million...Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 4.99 million annual rate. The numbers for the second straight month went against the increase in pending home sales, again showing the difference between agreed and closed transactions.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Consumers spent more money in July on a wide variety of goods, marking the biggest one-month increase in retail sales since the spring. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% last month, the largest increase since April, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected sales to increase 0.7% overall.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its Pending Home Sales Index Thursday, revealing an increase in pending home sales for the month of June, marking the third of the last four months that the index has increased. The index rose to 90.9 in June, an increase of 2.4 percent from May and a 19.8 percent increase from June 2010 just after the home buyer tax credit expired. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index is a forward-looking index revealing contracts but not actual closings. “For the majority of transactions, the lag time between pending contacts to actual closings is one to...