The daily business briefing: December 27, 2017

Record holiday spending boosts department-store shares, home prices reach highest level in a decade, and more

A shopper holds a Macy's bag in NYC
(Image credit: Getty Images)

1. Department store shares jump after record holiday shopping

Department store stocks surged on Tuesday after Mastercard reported that shoppers spent a record of more than $800 billion during the holiday season. J.C. Penney shares jumped by 7.6 percent on Tuesday, while Kohl's and Macy's rose by 5.8 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. Mastercard's SpendingPulse report said that the accelerating rise in sales this year was led by an 18.1 percent increase in online sales. "But that's probably only 11 or 12 percent of total retail sales ... the bulk of sales still is very much in stores," said Sarah Quinlan, head of market insights for Mastercard Advisors. "There's growth, don't get me wrong, but we still love that experience of being in store."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.