CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for a little 'Business Buzz.' Are you ready to start your holiday shopping? Sasha Salama is at the Nasdaq market site in Times Square with a preview of what we can expect at the stores today. Hello.</s>SASHA SALAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and happy day after Thanksgiving. It could actually be the best shopping season in the last four years. The group that follows this kind of information, the retail industry's largest trade group, says it expects sales at the retail level in November and December to rise nearly 6 percent to $217 billion and change. That would be the biggest jump since 1999. But the job market is still on shaky ground and that could affect spending. The Conference Board says that U.S. households are expected to spend $455 on average on gifts this year. And that would be down 5 percent from 2002. So we'll see how it all shapes up. This is known as Black Friday, and the reason for that is because retailers hope that their financial statements will move out of the red and into the black on what's considered the first official day of the holiday shopping season. So we will see how it all pans out. We're watching the markets here with some very high hopes that 2003 will mark the first out of four years that the markets will actually end on the plus side. The Dow industrials so far this year up 17 percent, the Nasdaq up 46 percent. So, Catherine, barring some major last minute turnaround, it is looking like the markets are on track to turn in their first up performance since 1999.</s>CALLAWAY: Yes, all right, Sasha, thank you. A lot of retailers out there holding their breath today waiting to see how it turns out. Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com Season>
Black Friday: First Official Day of Holiday Shopping Season