Budgets/Spending/Market Size

New York City -- U.S. retail sales in September grew at their fastest pace in six months, beating forecasts and rising 1.1%, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Excluding the auto sector, sales rose 0.6%, also better than expected. The increase gave retailers renewed hope for the upcoming holiday season.

The Commerce Department also reported that sales for August, which were originally reported as unchanged, were revised up to a 0.3% increase.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Jewelry will be one of the brightest categories for U.S. retailers this holiday season, according to a new analytics-based forecast by IBM. Jewelry sales are set to hit $2.6 billion In November, up 7.7% over the year-ago period, IBM reported, and $5.4 billion in December, up 4% over last year.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation Wednesday said that legislation introduced in the House to repeal debit card swipe fee reform would cost consumers more than $6 billion a year in savings that merchants plan to pass along to their customers.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores will hold its annual meeting in Rogers, Ark., near its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters on Wednesday, and said the meeting focus will be on reversing the decline in its U.S. Walmart stores’ business.

The retailer is also expected to share information about its upcoming holiday strategies and discuss capital spending plans.

New York City -- Research released Wednesday by PwC found that retail and consumer executives are spending less on security due to insufficient capital, but that they maintain confidence in their information security, despite an increase in security incidents.

Norwalk, Conn. -- A report released Wednesday by GE Capital found that the majority of retail CFOs are fairly optimistic about their industry, even though the outlook for the economy has soured.

According to the GE Capital Middle-Market CFO Survey, 58% of retail CFOs believe their revenues will increase in 2011. However, that has dropped from 80% in the first quarter. Less than half – 42% -- expect to increase capital expenditures, up from 38% in the first quarter.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- A report released Tuesday by Kronos said that the retail hiring levels have reached the highest mark in nearly three years. The Kronos Retail Labor Index, which characterizes the current state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector, rose to 3.9% in September, reflecting a strong gain in hires and a modest decline in applications, all on a seasonally adjusted basis. (A level of 3.0% means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred).

New York City -- The Conference Board Employment Trends Index, released Tuesday, showed a decrease in September to 100.95, down from the revised figure of 101.37 in August. The September figure is up 4.4% from the same month a year ago.