U.S. holiday shopping may not live up to robust expectations, a survey showed on Tuesday, adding to warnings that Americans may cut spending from last year's already weak levels despite a surging economy.

The surprisingly pessimistic survey from the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association said consumers are cautious because of lingering concern about the economy and worries about household debt payments.

While most private-sector economists have predicted strong holiday spending, fueled by leftover cash from summer tax cuts and renewed confidence in the economic recovery, the gloomy survey echoed a separate poll by The Conference Board on Monday which also suggested shoppers would rein in spending.

In Tuesday's survey, 34 percent of respondents said they would spend less during the holidays than they did in 2002, a big jump from the 21 percent who said so last year. The survey of 1,017 adults was conducted from Nov. 13 to Nov. 16.

Only 15 percent planned to shell out more -- down from 16 percent a year ago -- while the percentage of people who said they would spend about the same amount fell to 50 percent from 61 percent a year ago.

"This is a surprising result," said Bill Hampel, chief economist at the Credit Union National Association, noting that until he got the survey results a week ago he, too, had been expecting a surge in holiday spending.

"But this survey tells us that consumers are still more nervous about the economy than we might have expected. Their confidence in the recovering economy is lagging the actual growth in the economy."

A survey by The Conference Board released on Monday found U.S. households on average are expected to slash gift spending to $455 compared with $483 spent last year.

The 2002 holiday shopping season gave retailers little enough to cheer about with the sector logging its smallest holiday sales growth in more than 30 years.

The warnings are in marked contrast to another Conference Board report on Tuesday which showed U.S. consumer confidence surged to its highest level in over a year in October.

Heady consumer and business spending powered U.S. economic growth in the third quarter, helping the economy expand at a sizzling 8.2 percent annual rate -- the fastest pace in nearly 20 years, government figures showed on Tuesday.

But retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp have warned such a hot pace of spending cannot be sustained, saying in mid-November that a fiercely competitive holiday period would force severe price-cutting.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+FM: Taiwan question to head Premier's US visit ( 2003-11-26) +Experts look into sequela of SARS ( 2003-11-25) +US urged to be fair in trade problems ( 2003-11-25) +'Snakehead' sentenced to death ( 2003-11-26) +Orbital debris threatens future space journeys ( 2003-11-26)		+Holiday spending to disappoint - survey ( 2003-11-26) +Household International to settle suit ( 2003-11-26) +Study: Vietnam land mines keep killing ( 2003-11-26) +Two dozen New York airport workers arrested in drugs bust ( 2003-11-26) +Yemeni police seize local Al Qaeda leader ( 2003-11-26)