Shoppers have reasons to act like grinches

WASHINGTON — There are ample reasons for America's shoppers to act like grinches this holiday season, with lost jobs, wilting retirement accounts and shrinking home values topping the list.

And if anyone needed more evidence of consumers' weary state and the nation's deteriorating job market, they got it Thursday with the latest batch of bleak economic data.

The number of newly laid-off people signing up for unemployment benefits last week dropped by 21,000 to 509,000, the Labor Department reported. Even with the drop — which was better than the increase economists were forecasting — the level of jobless applications was still quite high and pointed to a deeply troubled employment climate.

The number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits last week climbed to 4.09 million, a 26-year high.

AT&T, the Dallas-based telecommunications giant, announced Thursday it will slash 12,000 jobs — or about 4 percent of its work force — in response to all the economic troubles. Job reductions will take place this month and into next year.

A grim picture was forming as retailers reported their November sales Thursday.

Costco Wholesale Corp., usually a strong performer, reported a bigger-than expected drop in same-store sales. Other retailers that saw declines in same-store sales are Bon-Ton Stores Inc., Limited Brands Inc. and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health.

All told, the Goldman Sachs-International Council of Shopping Centers sales index of retailers is expected to show a 1 percent drop in November, slightly worse than the 0.9 percent decline in October. That would be the weakest November performance since at least 1969 when the index began.

"Basically shoppers and workers are being told there is no Santa Claus," said Richard Yamarone, an economist at Argus Research.

Another economic report is expected to show that orders placed with U.S. factories fell in October, reflecting pull backs from buyers in the United States as well as shoppers overseas, who are coping with their own economic troubles.