Outlook gets bleaker for holiday sales

By Parija B. Kavilanz
CNNMoney.com senior writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - When stores report their November sales
Thursday, analysts expect the scorecard will look pretty bleak once again.

What that means is there is likely very little hope left for the the 2008
holiday shopping season.

Analysts forecast that last month's same-store sales, or sales at stores
open at least a year, will show a steep 2.4 percent decline, according to
Thomson Reuters.

If the figures come in as expected, the monthly decline would mark the
weakest same-store sales results ever registered since Thomson Reuters first
started tracking the estimates in 2000.

Same-store sales rose 4 percent last November.

The firm tracks monthly sales for 34 of the nation's largest retailers
including Wal-Mart,Target, Gap, and J.C. Penney.

Although reports indicate that total Black Friday sales were stronger
than expected this year, once the early-bird super discounts were exhausted,
experts said consumers pared back significantly on their trips to the mall on
Saturday and Sunday.

Excluding the impact of Wal-Mart, which many industry watchers expect
will post a slightly improved gain over the same period last year, same-store
sales are predicted to fall an even worse 6.9 percent, the firm said.

Sales, minus Wal-Mart, rose 6 percent for the same period a year ago.