Retailers lured reluctant shoppers with
late-December specials after Hurricane Sandy, the presidential election and the
school shooting in Newtown, Conn., tempered earlier holiday spending.
December same-store sales for the more than
20 companies tracked by Swampscott, Mass.-based Retail Metrics rose 4.8%,
excluding drugstores, beating the estimate for a 3.4% gain, the firm said in a
report today. That follows a 1.6% gain in November
