Consumer Companies Higher on Holiday Sales Optimism -- Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer companies ticked up as investors celebrated what looked like a strong performance for the key holiday quarter.

Retail sales data for November and customer surveys indicate shoppers spent more online and in stores this year than last. One category is facing increasingly stiff digital competition, however. Toy makers may have seen sales declines of as much as 10% in the three weeks up to Christmas Eve, warned analysts at brokerage UBS.

U.S. airline capacity is likely to rise 3.5% in the first quarter of 2018 compared with 3.1% in the final quarter of this year, said analysts at research firm Wolfe Research.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 28, 2017 17:33 ET (22:33 GMT)