US holiday sales grow at slowest pace since 2018

Five charts to start your day

The story hidden in these charts from Bloomberg tells a worrying story. While total holiday sales in the US have steadily climbed to around $900 billion, the real drama lies in how fast – or slow – that growth is happening.

Cast your mind back to 2021, when holiday spending shot up by more than 12 percent – the steepest climb in recent years. It was a time of stimulus cheques and lockdown savings, with Americans splashing out.