Consumer sentiment hits 2-year low as Black Friday nears
CBS News
Transcript
[Music] Wall Street is closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday but as Americans sit down to a turkey dinner retailers are gearing up for what could be the most important shopping day of the year Black Friday there are concerns that The Unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season will be a weak one for retailers the slumping housing market and soaring energy costs have pushed consumer sentiment to its lowest level in 2 years and retailers are pulling out all the stops luren Shoppers some even opening on Thanksgiving Day many more will open their doors at midnight Friday and there are deals to be found if you're willing to Brave the rush for example Best Buy will hand out tickets at 3:00 a.m. to those waiting in line for the rights to buy door buster specials including a $229 laptop and printer package on Wall Street Wednesday a pre-thanksgiving selloff on fear that losses from the mortgage defaults will spread throughout the economy the DOW Industrials tumbled 11 points while the NASDAQ sank 34 and mortgage rates fell this week the average rate on a 30-year loan has dipped to 6.2% that's down from 6.24% last week meantime the average rate on a 15-year loan fell to 5.83% it's the lowest level since February of last year and that's your money watch log on to cbsnews.com for more in New York I'm Alexis christopherus