Mass. Holiday Sales Fall Short Of Forecast

BOSTON (AP) — An organization representing retailers says holiday sales in Massachusetts fell short of the group's earlier forecast and lagged behind national results.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts said Tuesday that a member survey showed retail sales for November and December increased two percent over the same period in the previous year.

The association, which had forecast a 3.5 percent increase in sales, said a strong month of November apparently did not carry over into December.

The National Retail Federation said holiday sales nationally rose 3.8 percent over the prior year. The head of the Massachusetts retailers group, Jon Hurst, noted that the national report included more Internet sales and was more heavily weighted by large national chains than was the state results.