With much of Europe facing recession, political tension in the Middle East and North Africa has hit demand for some key holiday destinations and underpinned high oil prices, making holiday travel more expensive.
After initial high hopes for holiday sales, some tracking firms are now lowering expectations.
With our annual high-summer grilling holiday coming up, we set out to find some of the best.
Dr Peter Williams, chairman of analysts Acadametrics, said the number of transactions in June was "below expectations" and was partly due to the additional bank holiday and high level of rainfall.
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In Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average surged 3.6% to a near five-year high, following a long holiday weekend.
Holiday times also foster high expectations for love, connection, joy, gifts and good cheer.
Expect such promotions to ramp up as the holiday season gets into high gear.
Unveiling its strategy update, the firm said it would deliver "personalised holiday experiences through a high-tech, high-touch approach".
Retail consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners is on the high end, saying that that holiday retail sales will grow by 4.5% this year. 2009 saw sluggish growth of 1.9%, on the heels of a 3.9% decline in 2008.
DreamIt's newest hire, Kerry Rupp, recently launched Holiday Golightly, which organizes high-end vacations for women.
Walmart and Mattel joined forces to create a pop-up virtual holiday toy store in a high traffic area of Toronto.
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Two Thames Valley police roadshows are to be held from 1000 GMT to 2000 GMT at the Holiday Inn, Caversham Bridge, Reading, on 19 February and the Holiday Inn, Handycross, High Wycombe, on 4 March.
In between, there was a three-game stretch in January when opposing point guards logged a double-double (Brooklyn's Deron Williams), triple double (Boston's Rajon Rondo) and career-high 35 points (Philadelphia's Jrue Holiday) against the Knicks.
As we remarked in a late December 2011 post, federal judges have no qualms with keeping lawyers, reporters, legal commentators, and other interested parties busy during the holiday season by releasing decisions in high-profile cases.
However, the company maintained its full year operating margin guidance for the chipset and licensing divisions, implying that the later half of the year should pick up the slack as handset makers launch high-end smartphones in preparation for the holiday season.
The line, which boasted merchandise from 24 upscale designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta and Tracy Reese, was priced too high, was ill-timed within the holiday season, and the retailer overestimated product demand, Joshua Thomas, a Target spokesman, told Forbes, during a preview of a spring fashion collection from celebrity stylist Kate Young in New York City this week.
"The relatively short breaks, combined with high demand, are creating a feeding frenzy for holiday companies, " he said.
The founder of the High Street chain, Richard Tompkins, was on holiday in the Greek town when he settled on the plan for catalogue shops.
Load up on high-quality undervalued stocks and have a profitable holiday.
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High numbers of background checks are usually seen during the holiday shopping months of November and December.
The holiday resort is funding extra policing during its high-volume weekends this autumn.
Buying at the high, especially before a key earnings report for the holiday quarter, seems like a dicey proposition.
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In Asian trading the Japanese stock market hit a five-year high on the first trading day after the Golden Week holiday break.
Over the near-term, the company should benefit from a high-quality lineup of core game releases during this holiday season, the analyst says.
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Ross believes a holiday rally will fall short of the record high though and could segue into another drop at some point after January earnings.
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Ms. HOLIDAY: (Singing) He wears high-trimmed pan, stripes are really yellow.
She said she also got a better rate by booking a seat on one of the earliest trains to Washington, where she was going to spend the holiday with her family and attend her 20th high school reunion.
Analyst Greger Johansson at Redeye said investors are relieved that the N8 will now be widely available to consumers ahead of the holiday season, when sales tend to be particularly high.
Be sure to book as far ahead as possible, especially during holiday periods like Chinese New Year, when demand is high.
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Home printing is fine for occasional prints, she notes, while high-street printing makes more sense for larger runs, such as holiday photos.
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