Consumer Cos Up On Holiday-Shopping Optimism -- Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer-services companies rose amid optimism about the holiday-shopping season.

Trade group the National Retail Federation estimated more than 174 million people shopped over the Thanksgiving weekend, topping internal estimates. People spent an average of $355.47, with two-thirds of that amount going toward gifts, the trade group said.

Home prices, meanwhile, rose sharply in September, reflecting ongoing shortages of inventory. Sales of new single-family homes in October rose at a pace far surpassing Wall Street estimates, according to economists at brokerage Nomura Securities.

Shares of sports bar and grill Buffalo Wild Wings rallied after it agreed to be taken private by Arby's Restaurant Group, which is controlled by investment firm Roark Capital, for about $2.44 billion in cash.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 28, 2017 16:56 ET (21:56 GMT)