Holiday Retail Sales Up 4%

Santa delivered more gifts in 2016 than the previous year. Retail sales topped $650 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

Sales during November and December hit $658.3 billion, a 4 percent increase over 2015.

Non-store sales accounted for $122.9 billion, up 12.6 percent from the previous year.

The National Retail Federations forecasts $655.8 billion in sales and expected online sales to increase 7 to 10 percent to as much as $117 billion.

The increase in spending habits is credited to an increase in average hourly earnings, low unemployment and the rising stock market.