Redbook said the week was uneven as it began on a soft note before firming into the weekend. Some retailers attributed the slow start to Christmas falling two days later than last year.

Single-family home prices rose in October for nine months in a row, reinforcing the view the domestic real estate market is improving and should bolster the economy in 2013, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday.

Home Prices Post Gains as Recovery Keeps Pace. U.S. single-family home prices rose in October, reinforcing the view the domestic real estate market is improving and should bolster the economy in 2013, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday. Looking over this report, and considering other data on housing starts and sales, it is clear that the housing recovery is gathering strength.

The 2012 holiday season may have been the worst for retailers since the 2008 financial crisis, with sales growth far below expectations, forcing many to offer massive post-Christmas discounts in hopes of shedding excess inventory.

Shares of retailers dropped sharply on Wednesday, helping drag broader indexes lower, as investors realized they were likely to be disappointed when companies start to report results in a few weeks' time.

A variety of factors were thought to be at fault for the weak season, starting with Superstorm Sandy, which depressed sales in the U.S. Northeast in late October and early November.

One bright spot has been online sales, which continue to grow at a faster pace.

On Christmas Day, online sales jumped 22.4 percent, outpacing the 16.4 percent increase in 2011, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks more than 1 million e-commerce transactions a day from 500 U.S. retailers.

Housing contributed 10 percent to the overall U.S. economic growth in the third quarter, while the sector represented less than 3 percent of gross domestic product, he said.

Last week, the government said U.S. GDP expanded at a stronger-than-expected 3.1 percent annualized pace in the third quarter.

Government borrowing will hit the debt ceiling on Monday. As a result, the Treasury Department will soon start using what it calls "extraordinary measures" to prevent government borrowing from exceeding the legal limit.

On Monday, debt subject to the limit was just $95 billion below the $16.394 trillion debt ceiling.

All told, the extraordinary measures can create about $200 billion of headroom under the limit -- normally about two months worth of borrowing.

But it's unclear how much time the extraordinary measures can buy now because there are so many unanswered questions about tax and spending policies.

If left unresolved, the expiring tax provisions and automatic spending cuts, as well as the attendant delays in filing of tax returns, would have the effect of adding some additional time to the duration of the extraordinary measures.

After the extraordinary measures run out, Treasury won't be able to pay all the country's bills in full and on time. At that point, the United States will run the very real risk that it could default on some of its obligations.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid fell last week to nearly its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, a sign that the labor market is healing.

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