U.S. Luxury Sales Hard Hit in Holiday Season, MasterCard Finds

Luxury retail sales in the U.S. dropped 34.5 percent in the holiday season, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse. This figure includes jewelry sales. Total retail sales, excluding automobiles, fell by 8 percent in December through Christmas Eve, compared to last year.

Excluding gasoline sales, the fall in retail sales was 2.5 percent in November and 4 percent in December.

The National Retail Federation projected holiday sales to rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion. In November, IDEX Online Research analyst Ken Gassman forecasted annual jewelry sales to be flattish to down about 1 percent. When jewelry price inflation is removed, jewelry sales in terms of units will likely be down about 7-8 percent for the full year, according to Gassman.