Holiday spending up 9.2 percent so far

NEW YORK - A payment technology firm says holiday spending is surging in the days before Christmas.

First Data said Friday that overall spending, excluding gas, rose 9.2 percent from Nov. 1 through Monday, outpacing the 3.7 percent pace for the year-ago period. The company analyzes online and in-store payments for 1.3 million merchants.

Retail spending, which excludes grocery stores, restaurants, auto parts merchants and gas stations, is up 6.6 percent, more than the 2 percent growth for the year-ago period.

Online sales growth continues to outpace brick-and-mortar growth, at 11 percent, compared with 5.4 percent for stores.

Cooler weather, rising consumer confidence and low unemployment are enticing shoppers to spend.

The report comes as Commerce Department released data Friday showing that Americans stepped up their overall spending last month.

Consumer spending rose a sharp 0.6 percent from October, outpacing a 0.3 percent increase in personal income, the department said.

As a result, the savings rate fell to 2.9 percent of after-tax income in November, lowest since November 2007.

Spending on both goods and services rose in November, led by increases in purchases of recreational goods, vehicles, electricity and gas.

The savings rate has been falling steadily since February when it was at 4.1 percent.

"The saving rate can't fall forever," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a research note, "so income growth needs to pick up if consumers are to continue spending at their recent pace."